Helix
by Hana Rui
Summary: On-Hold Used to be Ring SD Version. A slight change in title… Sadako's wrath has reached Kanagawa… Her vengeful feat ensues… And this time, she is not alone… Slam Dunk-Ring Crossover
1. Prologue

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DISCLAIMER: I don't own Slam Dunk... and no, I don't have a copy of that videotape, in case you're wondering XP I'm not acquainted with Sadako and I didn't... okay, point clear...

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TITLE: Ringu (Ring) --SD Version

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AUTHOR: S.G.O.

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GENRE: Supernatural / Horror (?)

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PAIRING: ?????? Sadako with an SD Boy?????? *evil grin*

SD Boys: O.O;;;;;;;;

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PROLOGUE 

Cream-colored eyelids snapped open to the shrill ringing of the phone revealing a pair of fear-stricken brown eyes that instantly stared into space. Naoe Kojima felt her blood turn to ice as her hand flew and clutched at her chest within which her heart was pounding out a deafening, chaotic rhythm. Cold sweat began to break on her skin. The apprehension that she had been trying to abate surged through her nerves like a shuttle at Mach 2 speed.

The phone rang again.

The shivering brunette slowly turned her gaze to the dark, cryptic TV screen. Utterly wary... utterly timorous... She had been watching the local news a while ago as she quietly munched on a bowl of popcorn. Her attention was unwaveringly riveted to the screen until that certain report came up. And as stupid as it may have sounded to some, it left with her an overpowering effect that screamed of terror. Of a vague yet haunting truth that she alone would ever know and comprehend.

The heartless gizmo, wholly indifferent to the uneasiness it had induced in her, squealed again. This time it was followed by a brief beeping sound that let in a warm, cheerful manly voice she knew so well.

"Hey, Nao-chan, asleep already?" The first few words worked their way toward gradually soothing the fear that had come so close to completely overwhelming her.

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Some miles away, in a training camp outside of Kanagawa, the human hedgehog, ace player and captain of Ryonan High's basketball team was practically crying into the phone amidst the pandemonium going on around him. "This is Akira. _Your_ Akira..." He chuckled as he ducked to evade a square, fluffy pillow sailing straight for his face. "C'mon pick up. I know you can't resist me..."

"Whatever," Hiroaki Koshino rolled his eyes heavenward and flopped himself on the couch beside his best friend. But his butt had hardly touched the cushion when a jumbo-sized teddy bear hit him square on the face. "Urgh, Fukuda!!!" he growled before jumping to his feet to chase his assailant all around the cabin.

Akira Sendoh regarded them with an amused smile for a second before turning his attention back to the phone in his hand. Then, in a soft, flirtatious yet affectionate voice, he said, "I miss you, baby... please..."

"AKI-CHAN!"

Sendoh had to actually pull the receiver an inch off his ear to save his head from rattling up. "Hey, aren't we a little too excited?" The smile on his lips grew even more amused. "I know I haven't called you for a long while but you didn't have to--"

"Don't bloat. I'm just glad someone called."

Sendoh pouted and said in a whiney voice, "Aw, c'mon, didn't you miss me at all?"

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Naoe playfully twirled the phone wire in her forefinger as she strained to hear her boyfriend's voice amidst the din that was filling up more than half of the other line. "Didn't you?"

"Look, honey, I'm really sorry," Sendoh's voice was soft and imploring. "This week has been a very busy one, we hardly even have time to do our own stuffs!"

Naoe, not letting herself be swayed by the guy's charms just yet, proceeded to play with him some more, "Oh, and I see you're having a party over there."

"Not a party. Just a childish pillow WAR." Sendoh grunted. "Kosh! Leave me alone for a while, will ya?!" 

"You hardly have time, ne?"

"Please, baby, I said I was sorry." Sendoh grunted again. "KOSH!"

"It wasn't me!" Koshino chortled in the background before another voice, a timid sounding one guiltily admitted to the crime. "It was me, Sendoh-san. Gomen..."

Naoe could almost swear she felt the air of Sendoh's heavy sigh from the other line. It made her chuckle.

"You wouldn't be chuckling like that if you were in my position," Sendoh said in mild reprimand. "Taoka-sensei's out and they're all just being so wild and all. These guys--even goody-goody Hikoichi--OUCH! HEY!"

Naoe unleashed a louder set of laughter at her boyfriend's misfortune. "Serves you right."

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"Wh-What? HEY!" Suddenly aware of a raise in the tone of his voice, Sendoh took a deep breath to calm himself. "Nao-chan, y'know this is more than what I deserve. God knows how much I miss you..." Sendoh was suddenly fusilladed by pillows and stuffed toys of different shapes and sizes. 

"YUCK! Sendoh, you're such a sap!" Koshino's remark was followed by a series of "BOOS" and "GET LOST" exclamations from the other team members. Naoe's loud, taunting laughter from the other line only helped in inciting his irritation more.

"Nao-chan, I'm serious." He threw a glare that quietly said "stop-now-or-you-die" to his subordinates. The guys, though a bit taken aback by the unlikely expression on their genial captain's face, instantly stopped guffawing but still wore teasing smiles on their faces as they cautiously retrieved their weapons. "Nao-chan..."

"Okay, okay," Naoe sounded like she's in the process of halting her laughter but was not making any progress, whatsoever. "You're forgiven..."

"I can't hear you," Sendoh teased in a sing-songy voice.

"I said," Naoe chortled, "get lost you JERK!"

"Nao-chan..." Sendoh whined beseechingly. 

"_I miss you, too_."

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The house was now very quiet, save for the then calm, and rhythmic breathing of one of the luckiest girls in Kanagawa. "And I wish you were here with me right now."

Ryonan's ace and resident heartthrob comforted her with an assurance uttered in such a sweet, sincere voice that could make even the devil himself faint with delight. "I will be with you, soon, baby. Just a little more patience..."

"_Anou_, Aki-chan..." The tremble in her voice startled even Naoe herself. She could feel the fear from a while ago subduing her once more.

Sendoh's voice reflected his concern, "Is anything wrong? You sound a bit--"

"I was watching the news," Naoe cut in immediately. Not wanting the truth to be rubbed to her face. Hell, she knew she was scared, already! No need to let her boyfriend tell her that.

"And?"

"There was this girl! God, I can't forget the look on her face! She looked like she's been to hell and back... and to hell and back again! And to hell and..."

"Hush," Sendoh's voice was now soft and soothing. "I get your point..."

"Something killed her Aki-chan! Something that I fear could be after me too!" A drop of tear rushed down her cheek but Naoe was hardly aware of it. "And that something is very near..."

"Nao-chan, please calm down. I honestly don't get what you're talking about, though you're really beginning to scare the hell out of me here!"

Naoe took a deep breath and tried to compose as much of herself as possible. She couldn't blame Sendoh if he resorted to think she was going crazy. She thought she was herself. "Have you watched the video?"

"Video?"

"The one I gave you a week ago. Did you watch it?" Naoe's agitation was beginning to eat at her again.

"Oh, sheesh! I knew I forgot something at home!"

Naoe almost shouted "_BAKA_!" to the phone, but held herself back and instead squeezed her eyes shut. She always knew he was a _baka_, but she loved him just the same. So, there's absolutely no reason to hate him now...

"Is... is it... that important?" Sendoh asked a bit timidly.

"Oh, I don't know," Naoe sighed exasperatedly... frustratedly... "Maybe I'm just making a little too much out of it." It wasn't like her to believe too easily in such a farfetched story. So wasn't her at all.

"What's in that video anyway?" Sendoh's curiosity was utterly evident.

"Crap," Naoe simply said. Then, a sudden force jerked her head up to look at the clock on the wall. And the fear that she was attempting to dispose off began to wash over her again as she registered the time-- 10:25. It was the exact same time that she... last week... 

She shook the thought from off her head and as she was doing so, her eyes got glued on the framed painting in front of her. Her eyes grew wide and she gasped, consequently losing hold on the receiver...

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Sendoh found himself buried in a mound of pillows and stuffed toys once again. The guys were airing their disappointment at his not bringing that certain video with him. Some were even chanting the word "SMUT! SMUT!" over and over that he felt totally humiliated. Was this how his mates look at him? God, he didn't even own the video! It was Naoe's video!

Speaking of whom... Sendoh pushed the pillows off and groped for the phone that had been rudely thrown to the floor by the unexpected attack. He put the receiver to his ears, "Nao-chan. Nao--" Sendoh's heart skipped with agitation as the eerie, screeching sound from the other line filled his ear...

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==tbc== 

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A/N: Um, yeah, that was the first part of this fiction. Please be gentle with me. This is my first horror fic. Or, is it scary enough to be a horror fic? Anyway, not all of us can be Stephen King at first try, ne? I'll try to make it scarier in the proceeding parts. Hm... I think I need to find Sadako and learn some tricks from her... *rushes off in her quest*


	2. Chapter One: Visions In Spring

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A/N: I've taken out the genre "Horror" from the summary. I'm afraid this isn't scaring any hair out of anyone so I'll go stick to the "Supernatural" genre… for a while, I hope. Anybody care to give me an advice on how to make a Horror story?

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Disclaimer: Slam Dunk is to Takehiko Inoue as Ringu is to Suzuki Koji…

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Warning: Foul words… 

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CHAPTER ONE: VISIONS IN SPRING 

The television showed nothing but static. Eerie yet in its dull, commonplace appearance. Innately dizzying were the skittering bits of sand that had suddenly become animate with the desperate want to flee the baneful creature lurking in the arcane surface underneath. They filled every inch of the hyaline screen, incessantly banging on it for their merciful deliverance…

Bzzzt! Bzzzt! were the sound of them scurrying about, each crisp note bouncing off the confines of the spacious yet plain looking room into the stolid ears of the prone brunet on the bed, entangled in a mixed heap of pillows and blanket smudged with a little drool and… _wet dreams_.

Apparently, this guy had been drinking more than what he's worth. And even in his tipsiness, he had turned the tv on to watch the late night news--as was his habit--only to end up falling asleep within seconds of hitting the pillow. It was out of his character to be drinking in the first place, but what the heck! Even the most decent of men needed to broaden their restricted views once in a while… Especially when he's old enough to handle the consequences.

Or thought so, anyway.

The deep, sleepy moan vibrating from his throat seemed to have alerted some receptive cells and the pale body was consequently turned on its back, a quarter of which swung awkwardly off the edge of the bed. Following this, the faintest of snores began to resonate through the room, humming out the steady, rhythmic tune of nonchalance.

Then it was suddenly consorted by a screeching sound…

It was indiscernible at first. Faint and unhurried yet clear was the message it wished to impart.

That of evil--in the plainest, purest sense.

The unwelcomed guest cautiously pushed the door farther in and was soon striding furtively toward the bed. To her innocent, new victim.

The guy on the bed stirred and, as though subconsciously sensing what was about to happen, a frown slowly crept to his face, marring his incredibly handsome features with the unspoken desperation that was gradually welling up within him.

The bare feet kept their measured, feline advances. Closer… Closer… and closer still did the uninvited incarnate come to the poor, impotent being.

Soon she was standing beside the bed. She raised one leg to it, then the other and cautiously crept to the faintly moaning guy. The tip of her long, dark hair brushed along the slightly muscular arm as she bent closer and thrust her lips to the fair, innocent ear…

A wide, nasty grin stretched her supple lips a second before she let out a shrill, head-bursting scream…

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The tall bespectacled guy standing by the kitchen counter was terribly jolted out of his casual mood by the disturbing squeal suddenly emanating from his best friend's room. His calm completely snapped off when a loud, virile--yet very unmanly cry followed. Then there was the sound of something hard falling on the floor… and a pained yelp.

In his frenzy, he accidentally tipped his coffee cup over and the steaming black liquid immediately formed a winding stream on the white counter as the utterly agitated guy rushed toward the commotion.

"KYOKO!" he cried as he took to the stairs four at a time. "KENJI!" He practically flew down the hallway to that particular room at the farthest left side with the open door and macabre… "WHAT'S HAPP--" He froze in his tracks, right at the doorway, when a fit of jeering laughter suddenly assaulted his ears. And as though that wasn't enough attack on his already dumfounded senses, he realized he had just walked into the outset of a potentially _grim_, _horrid_ and _gruesome_ bickering between a guy with an awfully injured ego and a girl--

Well, the simple fact that she's the relentlessly irksome little sister of the unfortunate guy was scary enough, wasn't it?

"TEME!!!" was the incisive exclamation that erupted from the fuming brunet sitting on the floor at the opposite side of the bed from his nemesis.

A faint, bemused smile graced Toru Hanagata's lips and put a bit of life on his usually grim countenance. It's not everyday you'd hear a gentle, fine-mannered guy swear like that. Then again, he had witnessed this very same guy gulp down six bottles of beer last night as though he had been a habitual drunkard all his life! Hearing him swear the following morning shouldn't really come as a big surprise…

Not to mention that he could, though vaguely, remember this guy virtually swearing his lungs out when--

"You seem to have had fun last night," Kyoko Fujima's voice was calm, yet intriguing as she made the initial attack. "Were there any girls?"

Hanagata nearly lost it as he watched Kenji Fujima's face pale, then subsequently turn bright crimson --all in a matter of a second. It took all of his humane temperance to keep himself from guffawing right then and there.

Fujima snorted harshly and pulled himself up to his wobbly legs. At least, he tried to. But the aftereffects of his escapades the preceding night immediately took a vengeful siege and bore him rather roughly on the bed, barely keeping his butt from falling off the edge. Kyoko was beside him in a flash while Hanagata stayed rooted on the doorway, still rather anxious to barge into… _grave_ sibling matters.

"Geez, Kenj, are you all right?" Kyoko exclaimed with concern, raising a hand up to rub her brother's back.

"Don't… You… Dare!" Fujima snarled threateningly to which the younger brunette's hand abruptly halted a quarter of an inch short of touching him.

One of Hanagata's fine eyebrows arched in startled amusement over the animosity goody-goody Fujima had just shown his sister. The former playing coach of Shoyo never really minded total strangers touching him so why was he acting as though a simple contact with his own kin and blood was enough to rot him to the flesh?

To surprise him more was the fresh set of laughter erupting from Kyoko's throat as though she wasn't aware she had just been offended. Did this kid have a sensible ego at all?

"Hiding something, aren't we?" she teased, crossing her arms over her chest as she regarded the flushing guy with a wry, incredulous smile.

"What do you care anyway?" Fujima snapped, which in turn only served to push Hanagata's brow a couple of inches higher. He never knew his buddy could be this downright moody in the morning. Or was this merely the effect of his hangover, aggravated to an intolerable level by the mere presence of every maturing guy's worst nightmare--an incredibly annoying sibling.

"I'm jealous," came the candid, straight-to-the-point reply. And just imagine where Hanagata's brows could've flown--were they given a chance, of course--as he watched the misleadingly simple, bespectacled face appositely take on a rather dark "look-I'm-so-jealous" frown.

Fujima sighed loudly, EXASPERATEDLY, before attempting yet again to prop himself up on his legs and feet, this time succeeding but barely. He, however, defied his own unsteadiness and dragged himself to the fizzling television, his face still blotched in red. Hanagata could've sniggered at the sight of it had it not for the startled shorter guy's widened eyes suddenly snapping to his direction with both embarrassed realization and undisguised spite. That was only when he felt the wide, un-patented grin which was currently stretched out on his lips. He immediately swiped it off and darted his eyes to various parts of the room to avoid the other guy's piercing glare.

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Why won't you just get your ass out of here? he asked himself even as the assault on the poor older Fujima continued.

"Was she good?"

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F****NG GOOD! Hanagata was tempted to say in exactly the same manner that the steaming guy had said it last night. But when the said steaming guy cursed crisply for the second time that morning, he thought better of it and just settled with a stifled chuckle.

Fujima turned the tv off and dragged himself next to his closet.

"Mom did tell me to watch over you, y'know," Kyoko said with an air of authority that only caused the already fuming Fujima to fume even more. But like the calm and composed guy he always was, he tried all his best to rein in his temper as he pulled out a neatly folded cotton towel from one of his closet drawers.

"So you really should let me know what you've been doing," Kyoko was by now standing casually beside the bed, regarding her brother with a teasing mien that was annoying enough to make even Santa Claus himself bristle.

And that's just what it did to Fujima. "Yeah, like I'm your KID brother?! Damn…" His voice was hard and sarcastic as he made his way to the bathroom. He was about to step into it and shut himself off his _Guardian Devil_ when the unrelenting imp gave out an attack that went smack dab to the guy's already crumbling ego.

"At least, I don't wet my bed…"

Hanagata's brows shot up once again as he suddenly became aware of a faint, pungent _aroma_ wafting around the room.

"I was drunk, for heaven's sake!" the utterly irked, downright humiliated guy hissed, obviously keeping himself from strangling his own sister.

"And," Kyoko drawled playfully, "I don't take a kiddie bun-bun with me to sleep."

Hanagata's brows almost flew off his face as he incredulously eyed the alleged bun-bun on the bed. It was a two feet long stuffed bunny lying with its face down on the blanket, arms and legs in spread-eagle position. Then, his gaze consequently turned to the snickering younger Fujima. This girl didn't seem aware of his presence at all. Either that or it was really just one of her hobbies to humiliate his unfortunate brother in front of a willing audience. The un-patented grin appeared on his lips once again.

Fujima wheezed and the glare was snapped to his direction once again too. Those flaring, BLAZING blue eyes were silently, yet fiercely telling him to scat off.

He, the _willing audience_, in turn began to feel a little uneasy, himself. Fujima--the respected basketball star and school genius was getting a little too exposed than necessary. Hell, he was his best friend all right, but Hanagata had to admit the things he had just found out about Fujima were a little too …er… disturbing.

"And it's supposed to be your first day at the university," Kyoko went on sardonically, not making any attempt to suppress her giggles.

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Okay, that's it! Hanagata knew he really had to get out of there if he valued his life and his friendship with Fujima. The shorter guy really looked as though he was about to lunge at him and Kyoko and eat them both alive in one gulp. As far as Hanagata could remember, that expression had never graced the other guy's features prior to that day. And he really looked serious and determined about it, too…

Conveniently enough, the doorbell rang.

"Uh…" Hanagata sputtered. "That must be Hisashi. I'll go get it." And the now not-so-willing and more-than-thankful audience beat his hastier than hasty retreat.

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Kyoko watched with heightened pleasure as her brother slowly turned around and shot her a glare that seemed to want to shake her bones from off their sockets. He was utterly provoked, that was clear enough to see. The mere blush on his face gave him away too quickly that even the dumbest of people would've been able to tell what he had done the night before.

He never really changed much during the years they were apart. Well, except that he seemed to be a little too uneasy around her now. And still a little too easy to prove guilty, nevertheless. Despite his enduring greatness and near perfection, there was one thing that Kenji Fujima had never been and was still not capable of doing.

He could never lie to her. Ever. Not that she'd give him a chance to anyway. He may be a genius in a lot of things. But she was simply beyond natural. And if he had been good in concealing his guilt--which was not the case, of course--she would've eventually found it out sooner or later by herself.

All it would take was a single touch… 

"Kyoko," Fujima's voice was calm when he spoke. His face had chafed off the angry frown and his eyes were back to their usual pacific flare. The stunned girl's laughter abruptly halted, her gray eyes turning into suspicious slits behind her nearly opaque, horn-rimmed glasses.

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What could this guy be up to now? she wondered. Although she would admit she did love playing on her oniisan's temper more than anything, the rare occasions that he would decide to get even were also the rare times Kyoko Fujima felt the acquaintances of fear and uncertainty…

They say that dealing with an angry saint was like meeting a raging wave head on. Not to mention that the said 'saint' had the wile of a fox and the scheming mind of ten Adolf Hitlers.

Kyoko knew it was time to beat it. "Uh…"

Her legs, however instantly turned to lead when she dared once again to meet Fujima's steady gaze. She felt like drowning in the overwhelming emotion she saw in them. The mesmerizing sparkle… The genuine affection… _Er, affection?_ "I… I… I missed you…"

Kyoko's jaw would've dropped all the way down to the core of the earth had she not kept enough of her senses in tact to support the straight expression on her face. God, did she just say Hitlers? Her figure of speech was sure rusting big time…

"Okay, now what's that supposed to mean?" she demanded, keeping off the uneasy tremble from his voice.

"It means what it sounds," Fujima replied quietly. "Or are your brain cells rusting awfully that you couldn't--"

"Geez, Kenj!" she hastily cut him off the outset of a jeering speech. "I get your point. I've been really irksome and I know you're saying that because you want me out! Well, buddy, you did _scare_ me with that all right." She raised her hand in surrender and added, "I'm going out in peace, okay?" 

A loud, thankful sigh escaped Fujima's throat. "Good."

"I'm going out," Kyoko repeated with emphasis, her eyes glinting with recurring mischief. "But not without your dearie Bun-Bun." She pulled the stuffed bunny from off the bed and hugged it tightly to her chest. Then she put a hand to her chin in a thoughtful gesture that was meant to taunt her adversary. And just imagine how the older Fujima reacted when she said, "I wonder what Mitsui-kun's gonna say when he sees this!"

"SHIT! NO!" Fujima cried, rage once again taking siege of his feature. Kyoko tried to make a run for the door but she had only taken a couple of steps when the heavy, growling body of her oniisan suddenly lunged for her and bore her to the carpeted floor.

And as soon as she became aware of her oniisan's hands on her shoulders, she saw the most grotesque, most gruesome and most numbing vision that had ever assaulted her highly sentient perception.

Her eyes grew wide with fear as she stared back at her brother--eyes blank, face awfully contorted and mouth wide open in a silent scream of terror…

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Fujima knew right away something was going on in his sister's mind the moment he saw her eyes widen, watched her face pale and felt her body tremble under his own.

He abruptly let go of her shoulders and delivered a rattling slap to her face, leaving a nasty red mark on her cheek and sending her glasses flying off a couple of inches away. It instantly woke her out of whatever it was that had taken over her senses.

"What did you see?' the extremely agitated Fujima demanded.

"N-Nanimo," Kyoko's voice caught in her throat as her body continued to shiver.

"What did you see, dammit!" Fujima's voice was louder, more forceful as he delivered yet another slap across his sister's face.

"NANIMO!!!" Kyoko cried, pushing him off roughly. The awfully shaken girl reached out for her glasses, stood up and would've rushed out of the room immediately had not a very startling thing happened…

The television suddenly turned on by itself.

The loud, agitated voice of the roving reporter from the early morning news instantly filled the room. The two Fujimas were unable to move as they both turned to stare at the screen, their heartbeats going ballistic as they digested the plump lady's words…

"…Another teenager has been found dead in his own home for the same unidentified cause that has been plaguing the district these past few days…"

"Kenji, what's happening?" a perturbed Hanagata reappeared on the doorway along with the newly-arrived raven-haired guy. "We heard shouts."

Hisashi Mitsui, eyes instantly darting to the tv screen, groaned loudly and sputtered, "Not that b*11$#*t again! I can't believe people are actually falling for this crap!"

The two Fujimas, however, were barely listening to them. In fact, they may not even be aware of the two guys' presence. The older brunet stared on as the corpse of the said teenager was carried out of his house in a body bag. The reporter went on bluffing as the scene flashed back to an earlier recording, showing the corpse as it was found lying on the kitchen floor this morning.

Fujima's breath caught in his throat as he gazed at the close-up of the guy's awfully contorted face. His nearly bulging eyes were staring up with the orbs nearly disappearing into the upper lids and his mouth was opened wide in a silent scream…

He suddenly heard Kyoko gasp beside him. Consequently turning his gaze on his younger sister, he was just in time to catch her limp and pale body when syncope overtook her.

"KYOKO!" he cried anxiously. Hanagata immediately ran to the bathroom to get a damp towel while Mitsui stayed rooted on the floor, all the while keeping his unwavering, skeptical gaze on the tv.

"F****ng crap…" he mumbled. 

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==tbc== 

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A/N 3: I know there ain't much happening yet, but that will come, surely. If you found anything confusing in this chapter, rest assured that things will be explained as the story progresses, k? ^-^


	3. Chapter Two: Intrigue and Terror

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CHAPTER TWO: INTRIGUE AND TERROR 

"Are you sure she's okay with just skates?" Hanagata inquired a little worriedly, turning in his seat to look at the unduly placid brunet. The guy, in turn, simply kept his gaze on the downtown views passing by the car window on the right side of the backseat as the sleek vehicle sped down the road to Kanagawa University. "Kenji?"

"She's not easy to get rid of, y'know," came the perfunctory, yet sharply sarcastic reply which deftly gained an amused whistle from Mitsui and a sigh of frustration from the utterly annoyed glassman. 

Hanagata leaned back in his seat a little huffily as his eyes turned back to the view ahead. He honestly could not tell what was happening to his buddy. Ever since Kyoko came to live with him a couple of weeks ago, he had not been acting like his usual self most of the time. Always wearing that faintly dazed expression on his face, making sailors blush with all the foul words his debased mouth had been spitting out, and saying all the mean, sarcastic things you'd least expect from a fine-mannered guy.

It wasn't much help that they've acquired the company of ex-gangster Hisashi Mitsui, either...

"Dammit!" the raven-haired guy behind the wheels hissed as he was forced to bring the car to stop at a red light. 

Hanagata managed a slight smile as he watched a white cab park beside the former MVP's BMW. Now how did they ever end up being with Mitsui anyway? It wasn't like he didn't dig the idea, of course. But, of all people, why him?

The guy in question impatiently tapped his fingers on the steer, awaiting the altering of traffic lights. "I've got a very bad feeling we'd be late for class!" he sputtered, looking utterly irked. Incidentally, all three of them decided to take the same course at the district university, went to take the exam at the same time, and were given the exact same schedule of classes. This being the case, the perceptive Fujima figured it would be best if they hooked up together. Anyway, they've been _relishing _each other's acquaintances ever since last year's Winter Tournament, during which they were among the very few high school seniors who didn't retire and stayed till the very end to help their respective teams to victory.

"Ten minutes to first period," the matter-of-fact brunet announced calmly from the backseat. "We've got plenty of time."

Hanagata looked up at the rearview mirror, hoping to see a Fujima who was open at last for conversations. He, however, wasn't able to keep himself from sighing once again upon seeing the ever-so-nonchalant Fujima staring out the window like a psychotic freak. The passengers of the adjacent cab regarded him with an irritated frown but he kept on staring right at them, as though he wasn't aware of his own action... 

For all he knew, the guy might even be staring right through reality...

"Kenji, you're giving those people the creeps," Hanagata reprimanded half-jokingly as he silently wished the light would turn green soon enough to save them from trouble.

"Huh? What?" Fujima sputtered, as though suddenly waking out of a deep trance. This, nevertheless, got his eyes off the cab's concurrently vexed and timorous passengers.

"Whatever," Hanagata mumbled as Mitsui's roarish laughter instantly filled the vehicle. A faint sigh was all the response that was heard from the backseat as the car jerked forward to resume its drive.

"You look rather off, Kenj," Mitsui remarked whilst attempting to stifle the rest of his chuckles. "Is anything bothering you?"

Hanagata regarded the scar-faced guy with an amused frown, not really expecting their new friend to voice out the question that had been bugging him for days, but which he had not gotten the guts to ever ask. He knew Fujima well. Well enough to understand that at a time like this, it was better to leave the _little_ guy alone. He may be able to tolerate girls wanting to shake his hands or take his picture and autograph like he's some big movie star or something. But when it came to meddling with his personal affairs, Kenji Fujima was rather easy to irritate. Yeah, not even he--Toru Hanagata, the supposed best friend--had ever been able to find the guts to even try.

So it definitely was amusing for Hisashi Mitsui--who had only been with them for a month--to be sticking his cheeky nose into a personal matter. Though the question was delivered rather casually, it was still a meddling one, nevertheless...

And Hanagata's amusement went up yet a notch when the guy concerned simply sighed and turned his gaze back to the passing views. What? No sallying smartass reply superimposing a serious threat that could never be ignored? No raised eyebrows and a contemptuous gaze that could send anybody plummeting straight to the seething fires of hell...? Okay, so maybe Hanagata was exaggerating a little too much, but really. Fujima acting like this--looking like crap, keeping silent like he had just been transported back from prehistoric earth and was doomed to stare into the world with that haunted expression on his fair face was downright... creepy.

"Hello? Earth to Fujima?" Mitsui exclaimed jokingly as he geared the car into the gate of the university. His words, however, only hit vacuous wind as the still unresponsive brunet kept his unwavering attention nailed on... nothingness. An irritated groan grated the raven-haired guy's throat in response. "God, you're creeping me out!"

Hanagata couldn't keep the wry smile from touching his lips. Trust Mitsui to voice out what's exactly on his mind. He was beginning to think they were somehow telepathically connected.

They decided to leave the guy alone for a while as they searched for a perfect spot to park the BMW in. Besides, how could they be sure it was really Fujima sitting at the backseat and not some crafty, pretentious Martian disguised as their friend? Okay, so maybe that was a little off, yet still an exacting explanation, wasn't it? They would've fallen for it if they had been a little bit younger, perhaps... But right now they did have other important things to bother about. 

Like how hard it was to find a place for their car as all parking space seemed to have been taken already by the earlier birds...

"I can't start imagining how crowded this place is," Mitsui remarked as they slowly drove pass a line of cheap and classy, sparkling new and tarnishing old cars bordering one side of the driveway. Not to mention the different species, breeds and classes of people scurrying and scampering about the campus grounds in a desperation to reach their respective classes on time.

"I wouldn't even try," Hanagata simply remarked in reply. _Well, this is it_, he silently told himself as he watched the teeming scene outside. Just the mere thought of being in college had excited him for weeks and now that he was here at last, he couldn't keep the excitement, as well as the agitation from completely overwhelming him. Who knew what and how much could happen in their first day at the university? Who knew what kinds of people they would meet--gain the acquaintance or detestation of?

And who knew how many fine, young ladies--

"She saw something," a quiet voice suddenly cut through Hanagata's chugging train of thoughts. He snapped back to the present just in time to hear the car engine snuff out as a questioning whine resonated from Mitsui's throat. The bespectacled guy only had a second to realize that while he was engaged in his own quiet musings, the car's clever driver had somehow managed to squeeze his sleek BMW into a parking space at the end of the line of vehicles. Only a second, for immediately following it was an unexpected conversation with the queer _stranger_ at the backseat that barely hinted an answer to the mystery surrounding Kenji Fujima, but instead made things a little bit weirder and hazier...

"He talked," Mitsui muttered in mock shock as his eyes widened in an exaggerated look of astonishment, as though he had just heard a baby utter the longest word in the dictionary.

Hanagata looked intently at his friend and noted with concern that the guy had turned a shade paler. "She saw what, Kenji?"

"I don't know," the reply came in a mere whisper as Fujima stared into space, almost literally boring a hole into the adjacent van. "But it scared her."

Mitsui and Hanagata simply looked at each other with matching expressions that seemed to quietly say "Souka..." They both remembered how Fujima's kid sister paled like blanched sheet at the sight of the dead guy on the TV. And how her wan body fainted into the arms of her unduly agitated brother. The matter seemed forgotten when Kyoko regained her consciousness and time didn't let them question the two Fujimas on what had just happened either. The younger one was immediately back to her normal and loud annoying self anyway, so Hanagata and Mitsui decided it was not much of a big deal.

But it seemed to have drained the older Fujima of all the zest and will to stay alive...

"I've been careless," the still very screwed up guy went on. "I shouldn't have let myself get that close to her."

Brows raised as inquiring blue eyes snapped back to the still rather insensate guy.

"She shouldn't have come. Strange things happen whenever she's around..."

Hanagata thought for that short while that his friend finally made sense, somehow. It may not be clear yet how Kyoko was able to do so, but something really, really, downright STRANGE sure was happening to Kenji--and it all began ever since she moved in...

He strained to scrutinize his friend's face closely--wholly expecting to find it marred by intense hatred and animosity. He would've understood if that was the case--what with how that sly kid embarrassed him just a while ago... But Hanagata didn't find even a trace of such emotions dwelling on his friend's countenance. Instead, what he saw was anxiety... and desolation.

"She's not supposed to be here," the statement was a little too inaudible that Hanagata nearly missed it.

__

What's happening to you, Kenji?

****

-----------0----------- 

Kyoko Fujima skated excitedly pass a line of cherry blossom trees in full bloom, occasionally catching a handful of the glorious pink outpourings and deeply inhaling the lovely scent before throwing the flower petals above her head in childlike delight. It was a wonderful morning, indeed. And she couldn't wait to get to her new school.

The tall white buildings soon came into view. Kyoko came close to the red brick fence and brushed her hand along the cold asphalt as she skated on, humming a soft happy tune she made up herself, until her lithe fingers came into contact with the gold-bordered steel plate bearing the name of the school in Kanji characters. She came into a complete stop in front of it and smiled widely as she read aloud the neat, gold engravings on the contrasting black background, "Shohoku High School." It was a lovely name, as she would say so herself--and second more than willingly if nobody ever wanted to agree.

The cherry blossom petals swirling pass the steel plate added more drama, more romance to that simple, innocent sight and it made Kyoko's poetic and unduly empathic heart flutter. If her skates could only grow wings, she would've flown all the way up into the clouds.

"Shohoku…" she said again, savoring every syllable, every letter of the _exquisite_ name. "Shohoku…" She loved saying it already and felt like she could go on chanting it for the rest of the day. "Shohoku… Shohoku…"

"Why Shohoku?" Her brother's voice suddenly rang in her ears as her memory flashed back to a certain conversation--or, more like, CONFRONTATION that took place about a week ago. "You can easily get into Shoyo--"

"I don't wanna be in Shoyo!" she had replied in a whiny voice. "I don't wanna have to deal with all your stupid fan girls asking stupid questions about you, begging me to deliver stupid gifts to you, and telling me how stupidly _in-love_ they are with you--"

"You find that bothering?" Even though that statement was delivered in a somewhat casual manner and without much emotions, whatsoever, it spurred within Kyoko a disturbing wave of sentiment…

__

Damn! "Bothering my ass!" she snarled, masking her face with a deep, vicious frown which served to cover up the tremor that the simple question had induced within her.

"Even still, that's the shallowest reason I have ever heard," Fujima went on, nonchalantly stirring the cup of coffee he had been preparing for himself.

"Well, I've been telling you a more sensible reason, but you just wouldn't believe it!" she huffed impatiently.

"Sensible my ass," her oniisan's counter was perfunctory, but its sheer likeness to her reply a while ago was scathing enough to nettle her. However, instead of raking her brain for a smartass reply, she decided to just stalk off, vowing to take revenge the very next chance she got. 

And this morning, she had just successfully avenged her disgraced ego…

Kyoko sighed and slowly turned her head to the sides and up to admire the adjoining white buildings that were going to be her cradle of knowledge for the next three years. What was her reason again for choosing this school among many others? She would admit it wasn't really a sensible reason for other people, but it was the biggest deal to her.

Somebody had called her… Summoned her to come here…

She didn't know who it was exactly or what _sex_ "IT" belonged to. All she could be sure of was that it was somebody from here. From this school. For it wasn't only once that this very place had appeared vividly and in perfect detail in her dreams…

She felt it deep in her heart… In her soul… The urgency and desperation was just so hard to ignore that here she was now, giving herself to the full mercy of that somebody--whoever he/she may be.

She had expected her brother to be the first to understand her on this. But Kenji had changed… Or so it seemed to her… He wasn't the same person she had used to--

Kyoko shook her head roughly to disperse that disturbing thought into dust of oblivion. She couldn't let herself fall into the pits of the past now that she had a present to live in--a wonderful and exciting present!

She decided to enter the campus, only to once again stop at the gateway to look at the bustling activities around. Girls and boys, whether in groups or couples were joyously talking to each other about their vacation escapades. Some were standing in the middle of the campus, some were talking under the shades of the tree cluster to her right, while some where chatting as they made their way to the school building. The scene looked nice and inviting. She liked the idea of being here already.

In fact, if it didn't look stupid and not much of an attention-grabber, she would've dropped to her knees right then and there and kissed the sacred ground of her new school. But, of course, for decency's sake, she had to keep herself from doing that, lest be branded a retard for life.

She nodded and smiled in response to a couple of nice girls who passed by her on their way in. Realizing she should also be going too, Kyoko rolled her skates a couple of inches forward… That was just as far as she was able to go before she was suddenly assaulted by a most numbing and unnerving _feeling_…

She felt like the atmosphere had suddenly changed. The air was heavier and thicker and the people around the campus were all but a part of another dimension. The dimension she had just been a part of a while ago… The dimension living beings like her belonged to…

She cautiously scrutinized the whole place with the same kind and level of agitation she had felt for the very first time earlier this morning. She could not remember being this scared prior to this day.

The place looked quite the same as before, except that she knew it wasn't the same Shohoku she had regarded highly a while ago. Not the same school she had vowed to keep her loyalty to for the rest of her high school life.

It looked the same, all right, yet very different. Frighteningly different. 

Her eyes traveled slowly along the scene, the happy chit-chats now sounded like mere blurs to her ears… Something that belonged to a distant past and of which she had but a bare memory of.

She was now in a different world… A different--

Her breath suddenly seemed to merge in a terrible embolus that nearly cut her supply of air completely. Her eyes had just rested upon a strange entity standing at the farthest end of the line of trees to her right. 

The sight was so out of place… So damn _scary_. The being was just… standing there. Whether or not "IT" was staring at her, Kyoko couldn't be sure since a curtain of long black hair was covering "ITs" face… But "IT" was facing her.

"IT" was after her…

Kyoko gasped at the sudden onslaught of force… A pernicious, seething force that nearly burst her into shards of bones and flesh. It wasn't just a simple entity, she knew. Not quite the same as the ones she had been used to seeing everyday. This one was strong. This one was powerful… and _evil_.

"Kite…" Kyoko wasn't sure if she heard that soft, yet demanding voice from outside or inside her head. "Koko de…"

Chill instantly ran down her spines and perked all her goosebumps up when the frail arms cased in long white sleeves stretched out in a beckoning gesture. Her eyes almost bounced out of her face when she saw that not a single one of that entity's ghastly pale fingers had a nail…

"Help me," the statement came as an order, a decree that struck Kyoko with a more weakening pressure… A more gripping urgency to succumb to the call. 

She unconsciously rolled her skates toward that entity. Closer… and closer still… Each advance she took making her lose control over herself, her own thoughts and disposition. _What are you doing?_ she asked herself in a panic, unable to gain control of her legs. _Don't…_

She knew she was slowly losing… Losing in a battle that she had never expected to ever be in. The infernal force was winning her over. The cruel, vengeful feeling--

A strong gush of wind suddenly snapped her right out of her trance. Well, nearly. For her approach didn't halt until the wind assaulted the entity ITself and made the drapery of long hair covering "ITS" face fly off in all directions.

That was when Kyoko saw the face of the one who had summoned her. That was when she completely gained control over herself and let her fearful eyes widen as they registered the most terrifying sight before her…

She took a step back… and another… and another, until something solid made hard contact with her butt and sent her reeling forward in space. The whole paranormal experience was quickly pushed into oblivion as she consequently lost her footing and began toppling toward the cold, rough asphalt, shrieking in all her startled disgrace.

Soon she found herself pinned on the ground by a massive weight that was pressing her face to the dirt-infested surface, satisfying though rather wretchedly one of her deepest, ardent desires of the day…

She--swirly eyed and barely breathing--was finally kissing the sacred ground of her new school.

****

==tbc== 

* * *

****

A/N: This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I got too carried away that it got way, way too long! So I had to cut it into two chapters. I'll try to post the next update as soon as I've fixed it. And, yeah-uh, krappkarmin-chan, Rukawa's indeed up there, look ^_~

* * *


	4. Chapter Three: Close Encounters

****

CHAPTER THREE: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

The images kept on playing in his head. Even though it had been a week since he watched that video with two of his friends, he still could not get over the agitation and anxiety that the inexplicably unnerving experience had induced within him. He found it difficult to sleep at night, having to deal with the residues of that weird montage playing in his head. It was sheer torture living in the morning with those same random pictures reeling at the back of his mind, consequently filling his vision with a gossamer of anticipative terror.

Yes it had already been a week, and yet he still hadn't overcome all of this.

But that exactly was the deal. It had been **_a week_**... Just a few more minutes to the opportune--

"Jin-san, watch out!"

Soichiro Jin snapped right back to the present just in time to see a diminutive, yet ominous bulk of furry matter looming right in front of him. His eyes locked with those of the little black imp's flashing green orbs before his reflexes kicked off and subsequently swerved the bicycle to the right, just as the bristling cat snarled and ran off into a darkened alley. Jin felt the load behind him spring off with a crisp swearword as he struggled to keep his unsteady vehicle in cahoots with gravity. He instinctively pressed his straining hands on the breaks and stomped his feet on the ground to keep the bike and himself upright.

His noble feat now successfully accomplished, the still agitated guy looked over his shoulder to check on his fuming rider who was grumbling impatiently on the sidewalk. "Daijoubu, Nobunaga-kun?"

"What the hell were you thinking, Jin-san?" the longhaired junior demanded as he strode huffily toward his senpai. "This is, like, the umpteenth time you've done this for the week, and it's only Monday, for gawd's sake! This is not the proper way to treat Kainan's super rookie!"

Jin was almost tempted to retort, "And you think it's proper to talk like that to your captain?" but abruptly held his temper back from messing with the already messed up situation. He instead thought of a subtly sallying remark and abstractedly delivered it as he turned his gaze to the dusky alley to his left. "You're no longer a rookie, Nobunaga-kun. That was last year."

He didn't have a chance to know how well or badly his counter had worked. For, as if on cue, his eyes were once again caught in the hexing glow of those green orbs, blazing sharply in the cryptic darkness. The feline creature was staring straight at him, silently dispatching an inauspicious message concerning his life.

Or his imminent lost of it...

And he even thought for a while the monitorial creature was baring its white fangs at him in a taunting sneer that sent a scathing chill sprinting up and down his spine.

Then again, do black cats sneer?

He knew his imagination was once again running off to the farthest end of insanity. He was slowly losing hold on his calm... And just before he fell off the abysmal chasm of absolute fear, he heard a distant buzz that gradually formed into the lone syllable of his name--then into the title that he had least expected to hear from the boisterous saru's lips.

"CAPTAIN!"

The light incessant slaps on his face completely woke him back to reality. He blinked and gazed into the anxious face of his junior peering closely into his gradually clearing vision.

"God you scared me!" Kiyota exclaimed, sending a considerable spray of saliva all over his face to prove, perhaps, just how discomposed he had become.

"I'm okay," Jin said with as much assurance as he could master while he wiped the faintly seething little droplets off with the back of his hand.

"You're okay?" Kiyota repeated tauntingly, releasing yet another set of sprinkles that all but made the older guy grunt with impatience. "You blanch so suddenly like you've seen a ghost and you say you're okay?"

"Nobunaga-kun," Jin said calmly though in a rather reprimanding tone as he pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket. "If you keep on talking like a hose..." He gently damped the smooth fabric on his face and continued, now managing a wry smile, "...I think I just might fall sick in a minute or two!"

"JIN-SAN!" the younger guy snarled, his temper obviously not flexible enough to tolerate that underhanded attack on his ego.

"Kidding," the gentle-faced lad chortled as he stuffed his hanky back to his pocket and gripped the bike steers, looking all set and ready to resume their drive. "Hop on. It's getting late."

"Oh, c'mon! It's only six thirty!" Kiyota whined, crossing his arms on his chest to exhibit his resolute nature. "Let's get something to eat first."

"Your mom's cooking dinner for the both of us tonight," Jin was getting really annoyed, yet somehow managed to keep a cool and calm manifestation of himself--like how he always did. "Come on."

A loud, submissive groan tore from the younger guy's throat before he hitched onto the bicycle, placing his arms, one over the other on his senpai's back. The vehicle wobbled slightly at the additional load but was soon steadily treading the path leading out of that creepy part of town, back to the present civilization.

Or so, that's how it felt to Jin...

-----------0-----------

Nobunaga Kiyota knew something was terribly off with his senpai. It was so not-him to zone out while on his bike. Of course, not to mention it happening for so many times in one day. That cat was nothing compared to what they had nearly run into earlier today--a post, a mailbox, a limping old lady, another post, another mailbox, a stalled car-- The list went on as long as you could never imagine. Especially not from a guy like Soichiro Jin. 

He sighed and closed his eyes tightly. Yes, something was definitely going on with his Captain. Something so disturbing that it had managed to break into the usually calm guy's sense of himself. Something really bad that blotted the guy's sense of the world surrounding him.

Something Kiyota felt concerned him as well, but the truth of which he was too **_afraid_** to acknowledge.

Oh and had he mentioned that they even nearly collided with an on-rushing truck last week? They hit the pavement just in time to save their breaths but were awarded with a lump on the head and some ugly bruises on the arms and legs. It was a horrible experience he never wished to encounter ever again.

How was he to know this was far from being over?

Or was it?

Why was his senpai still thinking of that thing in the first place? Didn't they do what was supposed to be done to save their asses from that damn curse? The anathema of unprecedented absurdity? God! He could not believe the usually shrewd new captain of Kainan High's indomitable basketball team would actually fall so easily for that kind of baloney!

Well, he would admit that he did feel a tad agitated while viewing that weird montage and had even blanched and numbed all over upon hearing of people dying like flies after a week of getting acquainted with it.

Okay, so not exactly like flies as what he had seen on the television this morning. The blank staring eyes, the wide gaping mouth, the unspoken terror marring that guy's face-- The mere sight of it scared him cold that his mom had to actually shake him out of the trance he had suddenly fallen into. The kind of trance that the likes of Nobunaga Kiyota, brave and dainty at sixteen shouldn't wallow in, but which had engulfed him whole without warning.

It had been a week after all.

Then again, what was there to worry about? They **_did_** pass a copy of that video to another person and had even made sure that person watched it and passed it on to another innocent person to be recorded again and-- The chain would undoubtedly go on and on and on like that until, perhaps, it got in the hands of someone bitter and agonized and depressed enough to keep the curse to himself and break at last this seemingly endless ring of… absurdity. He could not think of any other word but that.

But that would only get rid of one copy. One out of a dozen others strewed all throughout the district.

No, they didn't need a willing victim at all. What they needed was a miracle…

Kiyota himself was dazed at the direction his own thoughts had taken. He could've kicked his own ass off to the moon if only nature so allowed. Damn, he could not believe this whole deal was getting to him as well! The fear he was trying to bury deep behind his usual cool and nonchalance was slowly taking its toll, leading him to over exaggerate the situation.

Who needed a miracle? All that seemed to matter at the moment was getting some pragmatic sense into his Captain's fogged up head. And he felt he could do just that without any celestial intervention, whatsoever.

Or so he thought.

"Jin-sa---" He had meant to speak in a calm, soothing voice but ended up shrieking at the sight that met him when he opened his eyes.

A girl, her long dark hair flailing like a mess of threads in the light breeze, had just appeared in front of them…

-----------0-----------

For the umpteenth time that day, Kyoko was faced with the unevadable consequence of zoning out while on her skates. She had kissed the ground about twice, slammed into a post, a tree, a mailbox, a brick wall and many others that were too damn painful to even think about that she actually thought herself as being the reincarnation of a cat with multiple lives. And if that were so, she felt her luck was slowly wearing out for the last rattling contact she had with a stalled car was the twelfth mishap of the day.

She knew she was stretching her fortune out a little too far…

And yet, here she was again--after rounding a corner while deep in thoughts--faced with yet another adversary, which looked all set and ready to bring her further damage.

Not again! was the first thought that crossed her mind as she squinted her straining eyes and realized that the wobbly object approaching her blurry sight happened to be a bicycle. A BICYCLE for crying out loud! She hadn't thought it possible for a single person to actually have two **_horridly_ **similar misfortunes in one day.

was the first thought that crossed her mind as she squinted her straining eyes and realized that the wobbly object approaching her blurry sight happened to be a bicycle. A BICYCLE for crying out loud! She hadn't thought it possible for a single person to actually have two similar misfortunes in one day. 

If this person turned out to be the same creep who ran her down this morning, she swore she would strangle him until his sleepy head dissevered from his pale, sickly body.

And as though manifesting their all-out support to her fresh new scheme, every wound and bruise she got from that incident stung her simultaneously, pricking her thrashing heart with vengeful contempt.

But she couldn't possibly meet the adversary head on with just that, right? So she had no choice but to depend on her reflexes to evade the mangling collision. And as she did so, she felt the ground slip off from under her, subsequently (and helplessly) bearing her down. Her butt almost burst from the impact of muscles against asphalt, but she was much too busy shouting curses after the fleeing bike to even take notice. She made out two breathing maggots on that vehicle. Two maggots who didn't even care enough to stop for a few seconds to check on her. The nerve of those people!

But what she saw for a fleeting moment when the bike came close enough to her hazy, unaided vision bothered her. Yes, as she shouted "Damn you!" and "Go to hell!" after them, she was actually getting more and more agitated inside.

Never mind the boisterous, repugnant back rider who even flicked an angry finger at her and was currently countering her verbal attacks with his equally repulsive set. If their moms were to hear them now, those sensible older women might have to fight off the urge to mutilate their filthy tongues for good.

No, that wasn't what built the overwhelming anxiety in her heart. It was the look she saw on the driver's face a second before he swerved the vehicle off her path. The way his face blanched, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped open in obvious fright.

It was almost as though he had just seen a ghost… Or something worse.

Something like **_the thing _**she saw in school this morning…

An involuntary shiver crept up her spine and froze her tongue to numbness, consequently putting an end to her squalidly random discourse. They were already gone anyway, so there was no use shouting anymore--not that it ever was useful in the first place. All it did was wear her out and make her a little more susceptible to the smarting pain crawling all over her body. Not to mention the agonizing fear that was currently inhibiting her heart…

She would've cried right then and there if not for a guy who readily held out a hand to help her up. She didn't know why it was that even though she couldn't really discern his face, she knew right away she could trust him. That he meant good and didn't intend to hurt her in any way.

He was even smiling reassuringly that she was instantly thrown into a kind of trance which consequently got her hand moving of its own accord to accept the willingly offered aid.

And the moment their hands made contact, a wave of nondescript sentiments shot through her veins, straight into her heart. Along with it came a rush of the guy's recent memories, passing by her vision. And since her third eye didn't really need glasses to see, she was able to view each fleeting scene clearly and discretely-- though without much understanding of what it was all about.

However, one thing was apparent. This guy had just lost someone important in his life and that **_someone_** died in the same manner as did the guy she saw on TV this morning.

She didn't really wanna see that girl's face. But it was unavoidable since the guy refused to let go of her hand. He jerked her up with the strength and gentleness of a typical 'Mr. Nice-guy' and she was soon back on her feet, her head reeling more from what she just saw than from what had just happened to her. She was now freaking scared, dammit! It was the third time today she had seen that expression of unspoken terror.

The terror that had killed this guy's life essence… That which had snatched the happiness from his heart…

A heavy tear suddenly bailed out from her eye. She could almost feel the sadness welling up within that guy's persona. The sadness he was hiding behind his casual, nonchalant façade. How could he smile like that after what happened? Why was he acting so strong and cool and brave when he was really breaking up inside?

"_Anou…_" he said in a soft voice, finally letting go of her hand to brush the wanton tear from off her cheek with his thumb. And more drops all but fell off in place of it when the guy began to abstractedly caress her face with his soft, tender fingers. Slow and discreet, as though he was putting to mind every feminine curve and angle. She flinched a little as his thumb grazed the cut at the corner of her lips with the mildness of someone wanting to ease the pain harboring it. Then his hand traveled to the small bandage at the corner of her left eye, shrouding a cut inflicted on it by a shard from her broken glasses. These were the injuries she got from the accident she had this morning. Aside, of course, from the ugly scrape on her knee and the spasmodic aching of the bruises marring her skin which were all being soothed by this stranger's mere touch.

All these while, they were looking into each other's eyes. Silently asking a question they couldn't voice out for fear of dispersing the atmosphere of familiarity that was hanging around them. The familiarity that was pacifying each other's worries. Dispersing their respective pains and agonies…

Then, Kyoko felt something forming in her tongue. An almost unconscious intuition shortly turning into letters, forming into a word which rushed out from her lips as softly as the breeze that suddenly blew pass them-- "Oniichan…"

She didn't know what exactly made her say that. He didn't know how to react either. All that seemed to matter right at that very moment was--

The loud honking of a car horn from behind her dissolved the mild, soothing atmosphere surrounding her into an indiscernible dot. An intangible memory that seemed to have been more a part of a dream than the reality she had been rudely jerked back to.

All that could prove the authenticity of that experience was the blurry image of a tall guy with gravity defying hair walking away into the distance…

But even that didn't give a clear enough impression of truth.

-----------0-----------

Mitsui looked at the images of the two Fujimas in the rearview mirror and sighed for about the hundredth time that day. They were sitting at each end of the backseat as far away from each other as lovers who just had a **_horrendous_** quarrel over some stupid, trivial matters.

And they were even blushing furiously for crying out loud! What was wrong with these people? They definitely were the weirdest siblings he had ever laid his eyes on.

It all began when they saw Kyoko standing at the pavement, staring like a total dolt straight ahead. She was gazing into space, seemingly unaware of her surrounding. She was unresponsive even as the car approached from behind and blared its horns loudly at her. She had flinched a little, true. But she remained in a trance until the older Fujima swung the back door open and called out, "Idiot, get in the car!"

The first thing all of them had noticed when Kyoko got in was the absence of her thick glasses. It took a few more seconds for them to realize how much of a mess she was from her face down to her knees.

She said she had been run over by a bike this morning, had met a number of other misfortunes throughout the day before getting nearly mangled by a meager bicycle--yet again--a few minutes ago.

Any other sensible person would've instantly thought she was only making up these insanely ridiculous accidents--what more with a BICYCLE! But Mitsui found it rather amusing. Sort of brought back some nostalgic memories of his days in Shohoku, when a certain dolt kept on getting hit by an onrushing bicycle recklessly driven by a certain narcoleptic airhead…

It was pathetic, yet downright hilarious to hear of another _baka_ laying victim to that kitsune's unfaltering carelessness. How he wished he was there to witness the whole thing!

Then Fujima's hand suddenly shot out and touched a large bean-shaped bruise on his sister's thigh which her distractedly short skirt failed to hide. Kyoko had shrieked then and convulsively slapped her brother's hand off, crying, "Get your filthy hand off me you--!!!" She didn't get to finish what she was about to say. For upon realizing what had just come out from her lips, she bit it off, inched away from her brother and glued her eyes to the passing views instead while her face turned a shade of crimson as bright as that which had instantly blemished Kenji Fujima's fair complexion. The guy looked as though he was steaming from head to toe.

They were indeed the strangest siblings on earth.

Silence ensued in the car for a few moments, disturbed only once in a while by Hanagata humming out a random tune to break the suffocating stillness. Once or twice Mitsui found himself joining in, even drumming his fingers accordingly on the steer as they drove off into the night. And they were barely enjoying this drudging drill when Kyoko suddenly piped up in a small, rather discreet voice.

"Mitsui-kun?"

"Hm?" was all he said in reply, almost unable to keep his cool as intensified interest welled up within him. He felt like he could talk with anybody about anything at all just to ward off the strangling quietude. But, of course, showing that much excitement could ruin his perfectly gangly image. So he had to keep calm and as disinterested as possible…

"I met somebody at Shohoku," Kyoko began, her gaze still pinned firmly and pensively to… nothingness. "Well, not exactly **_met_** him. We just got to talk for a while and… I was wondering if-- Well, you might be able to tell me who he is, having come from the same school and all."

An almost inaudible grunt escaped Fujima's throat but which didn't miss Mitsui's highly acute hearing. He looked up at the RV and noted the deepening of the frown on the brunet's face. Hanagata noticed too but decided to keep his finger off the matter for the time being. The poor guy had been taunted a little too much in one day when all he ever wanted to do was help his troubled best friend.

"What's he like?" Mitsui inquired as he geared the car to the right of an intersection.

Delight and fondness suddenly lighted Kyoko's face like magic. "He's really nice and good-looking. Um… Very interesting guy and… And he plays basketball like a pro!"

Mitsui gathered every single information as he kept his unwavering attention straight ahead. And when he processed them in his head, only one image instantly popped out in response. _Geez, not another dumb, squealing fan girl for that disrespectful baka!_ Did she really think that guy was nice? And c'mon, didn't he just run her over with his bike? How come she was talking with such high regards about that guy now? He could only groan inwardly over the whole deal. _UGH! GIRLS!!_

If this kid had gone a year earlier to Shohoku, she just might be talking of the almighty ace and certified heartthrob, Hisashi Mitsui, and the descriptions would've fit perfectly to the dot! But, seeing as he was at the university already, there was only one heartthrob left in Shohoku who could sway the hearts of stupid young ladies like this one… There was only one guy he could think of who barely fit such descriptions--aside, of course, for the **_nice_** part. If this girl thought that guy was nice, well, she ain't seen nothing yet.

"Well?" Kyoko prodded, a little impatiently.

"Rukawa," Fujima suddenly spoke up, his tone hard and huffy as though the mere mention of the name was torture enough to his tongue. "Kaede Rukawa."

"Kaede," Kyoko repeated with a wide smile on her lips. "Kaede Rukawa. Y'know him Kenj?" she asked, turning excitedly to his brother.

"We used to play against him," Hanagata replied, rather pensively. "And, yeah, I think he plays like a pro. Kenji himself has had high regards for that guy, right, Kenj?"

"He's skilled," Fujima supplied dutifully, yet half-heartedly. "He was voted Best Rookie in the Winter Tournament and almost beat Shinichi Maki to the MVP…"

"Wow," Kyoko goshed under her breath, her eyes widening and sparkling with so much admiration.

Yup it definitely was confirmed. Here, indeed, was another fine young lady gone insane over an impassive snob! Mitsui couldn't help but feel a tad sorry for this girl. She's never gonna get a chance with that creep EVER! She may be Kenji Fujima's sister, but for some unfortunate reason, she had somehow gotten short on the looks department. She looked rather plain and well… **_unattractive_**. And her thick nerdy glasses (which were currently not in sight) and long dark hair worn in braids added all the more disaster to her appearance.

Mitsui almost felt like clucking his tongue. Poor, poor creature indeed! He must admit, though, that she had a rather charming smile, showing off sparkly white teeth in perfect alignment. And, note--they're all real teeth. No dentures. He actually envied the young kid for that. But that wasn't enough to sway Kaede Rukawa's numbed emotions, of course. Not that he'd ever paid attention to girls anyway.

Now if Kyoko had been blessed with a head that somehow resembled a basketball, she just might stand a chance.

The raven-haired guy smiled at the flitting recollection of that recent joke as he geared the car to round another corner. Now, whose fearless tongue was it again that wove out such witticism? He had been laughing so hard then that he kind of forgot to take notice.

"Isn't he the coolest?" the overly enthused Kyoko exclaimed much to the growing annoyance of Fujima made too evident by a stifled grunt escaping his throat once again. "I mean, he's got to have the coolest hairstyle on earth!"

At this, Mitsui's brow nearly flew off his head and he all but puked. Damn! He had never learned to tolerate these stupid girls' exaggeration of Rukawa as though he was the greatest guy on earth or something. Coolest hairstyle??? That creep who wore a tuft of black mess on his head??? If that's the kind of hairstyle girls were falling for these days, then he should remind himself later to throw all his combs at home into the Pacific.

"Flamingly beautiful hair!" Kyoko added dramatically.

"Oh, please," Fujima grumbled, rolling his eyes.

Flamingly beautiful… God, this kid's sure got a sloppy vocabulary. Mitsui felt like chuckling at the sheer dumbness of it all. Rukawa's hair, flamingly beautiful??? It was like saying the sun was nothing but a very huge and fluffy pink cotton candy. The exaggeration was that moronic! He knew only one guy in Shohoku whose hair could pass for such a description as "flaming" and it wasn't Rukawa. Not in a million years--

Then again, this kid couldn't possibly be talking about that certain **_monkey_** now, could she? She did say the guy played basketball like a pro, right? And it would take a blind man to say that of the self-appointed Tensai's athletic prowess, especially if it concerned basketball--

Then again, Kyoko was without glasses after all!

"Stop the car!" the urgent order instantly snapped Mitsui out of his musings before he could even delve deeper into the fresh new thought that suddenly popped in his head.

"Wha--What--" he sputtered, feeling rather jolted by the authority dwelling in that tone. The urgency…

"I said stop!" Kyoko snarled, agitation and fury mixing into a horrible scowl in her face. "Pull over, dammit!"

Mitsui didn't know why but he found himself condescending to the command from a mere fifteen-year-old! The car had hardly stopped when Kyoko opened the door and jumped out into the street, skating off to who-knows-where.

"KYOKO!" Fujima called out, instinctively running after his sister who was zigzagging pass the on-rushing traffic.

"Damn these people!" Mitsui hissed as he and Hanagata stepped out as well to follow. Like they had any other choice, right? He'd just have to remind himself to strangle them both later…

-----------0-----------

Fujima had never really understood what went on inside his sister's head. But whatever it was, he always knew it was **_something_**. Something that was beyond his level of discernment. His level of capacity as a human being.

He was a normal person after all. And Kyoko was… special.

He had heard her whisper, "It's her again," before she cried for Mitsui to stop the car. It was a soft whisper oozing with agitation and fright that pricked his ears and his heart with the gravity of the trouble his sister had just sensed. Hell, after years of missing and finally memorizing the rhythm of her mere breathing, how was he to miss something as clearly discernible as that?

Kyoko was **_indeed_** special… After all…

He reached the slightly darkened alley almost as soon as she did and had only a second to gasp at the sight that met him before the other guys arrived and halted right beside them. The moon was hanging right above the place as though it had appeared that night with the sole intention of showing them that unnerving sight.

"Holy sht!" Mitsui exclaimed under his breath. Hanagata just kept silent while a numbing chill began to branch out from Fujima's spine to every sentient vein in his body.

Kyoko simply gasped and dropped down to her knees, **_crying_**…


	5. Chapter Four: Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind

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Note: Back from the grave! Sorry for the loooong delay! Erm… wait, hope y'all people are still here? ^____^

Yup! It's got a new title, though pretty much the same plot. I was thinking, since Sadako's turn was called "Ring" and there was actually a sequel to it called "Rasen [Spiral]" and a third installment titled "Loop", why not think of a title for my own fiction that relates to these things? Such as "Helix"… See, I wanna expand my story beyond what I know about the original. I am borrowing Sadako, but putting her in a whole new plot, a whole new story, yet pretty much the same kind of wickedness, hehehe… ^-^

* * *

**CHAPTER FOUR: OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND**

She had the vaguest anamnesis of an intimate contact. Of someone fondly caressing her face then later on showering it with light kisses of affection. Of a voice whispering soft, sweet nothings to her ear whilst cuddling her tightly in the warmth of his embrace…

These were the fragments of her past--_their_ past--emblazoned in the fabric of last night's dream. Embedded forever in the memory of her soul--

"ARF!"

And that bark… That dog… Wait a minute! Kenji never had a dog!

SLUUURPPP!

Big gray eyes fluttered open in alarm as another mirthful yelp slaughtered her newly awakened senses. A loud shrill scream soon echoed through the house and was subsequently followed by the rumbling clamor of something heavy tumbling in a startled heap down the stairs. A stifled groan of pain soon ensued. Then there was silence.

The next thing Kyoko knew, she was slowly forcing her eyes open to an utterly unbearable pain shooting through her back. Just the kind that could make even the toughest fighter put on the ugliest grimace.

And this certain _tough fighter_ would've done just that if she hadn't subsequently found herself gazing into the very apotheosis of impish buoyancy. Its orbital effervescence was almost blinding and her ears were but turning to goo at the unrelenting ravage of that same jovial cry that woke her out of precious slumber and sent her rolling down the stairs like a bowling ball thrown off key. That abrasive creature even had the nerve to smear her face with a generous amount of retch-worthy spit--

And at this, the utterly horrified _tough fighter_ just had to scream again. Louder this time that it almost made the earth beneath her crumble into intangible dust.

"Get away from me!" was the desperate cry that bounced off the fairly thick walls of that pad as the glass-less lady megane--deluged and blinded by a desperate attempt to rid herself off her persistent playmate--scrambled up to her feet and scuttled in hysterical circles around the living room. She seemed to have forgotten all aches from the recent fall as though they had been a thing of the distant past.

"ARF! ARF!" The gleeful pug, on the other hand, kept a close trail behind, unaware of the unnerving terror he was inducing in his squealing quarry who was by now losing volumes of sweat and breath to a perduring phobia.

"HEELLPP!!! KENJI!!!" The blurry world reeled around Kyoko as though she had just been hoisted upon a carousel tuned up at the highest speed. This eventually sent her sprawling face flat on the ground, feeling more dazed at the words bursting out of her mouth than the fact that she was rather fervently paying homage to the scarcely vacuumed floor.

SLUUURPPP!

Hell, did she just call on that particular guy's name for help? Called on it desperately enough and fervidly enough to drive their old folks into a fatal chain of cardiac arrests were they to hear it? Not to mention it was just after she had vowed to prove her tenacious strength and mature rationality to that certain guy's _girly_ face, and stick the very truth of that up his sorry ass--

DAMN! Where the hell were her muddled thoughts headed to anyway?

SLUUURPPP!

And why was she, in all social disgrace and impropriety, kissing the floor?

SLURP! SLURP!

But, on second thoughts--and given a fair choice between humiliation and death--she would rather have her lips latched on to good earth than have this formidable poor-excuse-for-a-pet canine licking her up to kingdom come.

SLURP! SLUUURPPP!

The nauseated young Fujima's breath was beginning to 'seriously' catch in her throat and numbness was taking full control of her systems. She closed her eyes tight and was soon succumbing to the rush of paralyzing fear, which was slowly destabilizing her crazed heart.

This was the end of her, she knew.

"ARF! ARF! SLUUUURPPP!!"

Where the hell was Kenji when she needed him? To hell with what she wanted to prove to his sorry ass! She knew beyond the darkest shadow of a doubt that she 'needed' him. 

Needed him badly… 

Needed him like she had never needed anybody in her entire life--

She was in this state of a bitterly sentimental and downright disturbing realization when an all-too-familiar call echoed suddenly in her head.

Kyoko's near-defunct senses kicked back to life almost as soon as a freezing wisp of wind flitted past her and was gone a second before she was able to open her myopic eyes. The measly pug, Kimchy, had gone off to a corner and was whining like he had just seen a beast big enough to gobble him whole. The glass-less lady megane slowly pulled herself up to her feet as she warily assessed her obscured mien--or what little she could see of it.

And she just had to hear that sound again. That eerie and deafening screech of the unworldly noise from last night. The one that filled her head as soon as she caught the most distinct sight of that mysterious entity from school standing on the opposite side of the street--

At the darkened alley where she saw the most gruesome sight that was to haunt her senses forever.

After all, her psychic vision didn't really need glasses to see. And today definitely was no exception.

Kimchy seemed to have gathered up some courage and was now growling and baring his sharp incisors at the entity which had just grazed the gasping mortal's scouring eyes.

Sure enough, it was the same one from school… from the alley…

From hell.

It was posed rather casually behind the couch with its head slightly bent forward, long black hair draped over its face, and old, white dress adding more bane to its ghastly appearance.

It looked like it had just crawled straight out of an untended tomb in the district cemetery.

"Here," she heard it speaking in her head. "Come here, my--"

A strong gush of wind suddenly slapped Kyoko on the face, rattling her senses and garbling the rest of the entity's words. The metallic screeching grew unbearably louder, too, and there now seemed to be words incorporated with each piercing note--

__

"Shoumon bakkari shite'ru to, boukon ga kuru zo."

It kept on and on, slithering like an infernal threat through her head. It seemed to be a dialect from some strange land that Kyoko had never heard of. Yet, stranger than the fact that she could actually make out this words at all was the reality of her accurately comprehending each as though it was spoken in the very tongue she had grown fond of using--

__

"If you keep playing in the water, the monster will come for you."

There really was not much threat on the statement as it sounded like any other crappy ones some old folks had woven out to keep kids off the precipice of actual or imagined peril. But the way it was said in a low-voiced chant that seemed to come from the fathomless sea, and the manner with which it was being imparted on Kyoko, was enough to send the shuddering young Fujima glissading off the boundaries of sanity…

The curtain of black hair swayed slightly with the breeze, and though this time it didn't reveal anything aside from the wraith's ashen lips, it didn't make the image any less scarier either.

"Go away," Kyoko mumbled pleadingly as she took small retrograde steps away from that being. Unmindful of the fact that she was gradually closing the distance between herself and another object of her fear. But, hell! She would rather be in a dog pound surrounded by a thousand Kimchys than be in the same place as this… this phantom from Hades's infernal opera!

Not once taking her eyes off it, she saw it raise an arm toward her in a beckoning gesture, a small smile stretching its lifeless lips. And if she thought that was unnerving enough to suck all rational senses out of her, she was in for more 'wear' and scare…

Kimchy suddenly scurried off to the other side of the room and barked loudly. Not the joyous one he had greeted her with but one that screamed of a warning that should be heeded. That should be acted upon immediately.

"ARF! ARF!"

Kyoko stopped taking backward steps and held her breath. She had just felt another spectral presence. Not as strong as the one before her, but definitely just as vile and evil.

And this one was standing right behind her.

"ARF! ARF!"

The quivering mortal--scared to her wits as she was--slowly turned her head to venture a peek over her shoulder and wished to the gods she hadn't done so when her psychic sight rested upon the very representation of terror staring her straight in the eye.

She spun on her heels and stepped back, away from it. Shrieking from so much fear and lack of air. She could still hear Kimchy yelping in the background, his clipped yet forceful barks embedded in the pernicious intonations grating at her ears. She stepped back… and back again, until--

The supposedly _tough_ _fighter _was by now totally numbed up that she didn't even hear nor perceive the impact of her calves against the coffee table. In fact, she wasn't aware of its quiet, humble existence even as she toppled over it and sent its glass top shattering to the floor in an array of broken crystal blades upon which she pratfell in a dazed and helpless heap.

It took a couple more seconds for Kyoko's traumatized neurons to relay the gory truth to her brain and for that befuddled part of her system to actually grasp it. She gasped as blood began slinking out of the gaping cut she sustained on her arm as a piercingly eviscerating pain slowly came sipping into her nerves. 

With fear and throe now filling up her psyche to bursting point, she finally let loose the bloodcurdling scream she had been holding back all this while.

###

"I heard Maki's flying in this afternoon," Hanagata informed his buddies as they practically dragged themselves in slow, plodding steps toward the locker area. "Ikegami contacted him in Tokyo and he said he's taking a week off school."

The three pale hunks, obviously sleep-deprived and still suffering from the residues of last night's shock, had just gotten out of this morning's second class, which apparently had not been stimulating and engaging enough to keep their minds off the fragments of that harrowing encounter's haunting memory… 

"I still can't believe it. I mean, weren't we talking with those guys just a week ago?" Mitsui uttered in sheer disbelief as he opened his locker and gently placed his book among a neat pile of others. For someone of his stature and past reputation as a rowdy gangster, it always struck people dumb how much of a clean freak this guy really was. Well, it could be argued that it was, after all, just his second day at the university, and he had not much time yet to turn his locker into some deadly bedlam of mess and immorality. But seeing as he was showing no sign of doing such in the near future, he should rightfully be commended for the uncluttered way he had been handling his stuffs, as well as his life, ever since he turned his back on delinquency.

A glance into his locker could clearly vouch for that, of course. There were just a set of reference books, a pair of sneakers, and the edge of a picture sticking out from the bottom of the pile--

Seeing this, Mitsui quickly pulled out the book for his next class and shut the door. There was no way he would let anyone catch a sight of that picture and thus give that nosy person a chance to question who he was with in it. For all he knew, it just might take a mere minute for the news of his 'special' and surreptitious acquaintance with that girl to reach a certain feisty creature. And he knew that once it did, there would surely be hell to pay!

"It's really tragic," Hanagata remarked as he shut his own locker close. He then turned a grave look at his sighing friend and added, "I bet you haven't heard what happened in Shohoku this morning."

Mitsui's heart made a terrible lurch at the mention of his old school. He turned a questioning frown at the taller guy, quietly obliging him to go on. 

"A couple of freshmen, and a senior," Hanagata dutifully supplied, his face getting dimmer and dimmer with each word. "Judging by the petrified expression on their faces, authorities are saying that they died of the very same reason as Nobunaga Kiyota."

"Which is?" Kenji Fujima finally decided to join in the conversation as they were making their way to the next chamber of boredom.

"They can't tell as of yet," Hanagata replied. "Apparently it's the same strange reason that's been snuffing out teenagers from all corners of Kanagawa--"

"Or the same demented person…" Fujima uttered, pensively.

"A serial killer, you mean?" 

"Who else would go around killing innocent people for a hobby?" There was a trace of resentment in Fujima's voice as he scoured the half-filled class for a good seat. He spotted three adjacent ones at the back and was making a sluggish beeline for them with the two other guys at his heels when Mitsui suddenly asked:

"Who was that Shohoku senior who died?" He felt really numb and knew he was turning pale already, but was still as resolute as ever to find out the truth. He prayed, though, to all the gods that the anxieties swirling in his heart would not accumulate into it.

"I think his name was Yasuda," Hanagata replied, settling himself on the seat beside Fujima. "Yasuharu Yasuda, the basketball team's vice-captain." 

###

Toru Hanagata looked closely at the ex-Shohoku basketball player who had just slumped weakly on the seat beside him. "Are you well, Hisashi?"

"I guess so," came the curt reply. He closed his eyes tight and took a deep breath. So deep that he almost hurled his intestines through his nostrils when he breathed out.

"He was your friend, right?" Hanagata's voice grew soft with sympathy, echoing with the hint of remorse he felt in being a little too casual about such an upsetting matter. 

Mitsui barely shook his head and sighed, releasing every bit of the tension that had built up within him as though it had never really mattered in the first place. "I'm good," he mumbled shortly afterwards, his face a picture of stark relief.

Hanagata regarded his friend closely, letting a subtle frown settle upon his perusing eyes. He had been holding Mitsui's shifting emotions under scrutiny for the past few minutes. In the locker area, he had caught a trace of alarm flit pass the other guy's face before he slammed his locker door close. Had looked on as the said guy let out a deep sigh that seemed to proclaim he had just successfully hidden all the secrets of the world inside some hollow cube of concealment. Saw how that same ex-gangster blanch with utter fear and anxiety when he told him about what happened in his old school this morning. How he asked for the name of that senior who died as though he was too afraid to hear the answer--

And now look at how suspiciously fast the colors were coming back to the other guy's face. It was like watching a young kid who thought he's lost his toy and was totally relieved to find it sitting in a corner, safe and in one piece. 

He never knew Hisashi Mitsui valued someone this much in Shohoku.

"What time did it happen?" the guy in question asked, his voice calm yet still lacking its usual cocky bearing. Well, he should rightfully be concerned, after all he did use to play with the recently deceased.

"Around half past seven," Hanagata replied as dispassionately and factual as though he had just gotten out of medical school. "He, along with the captain and the other seniors were cleaning up the gym when he…" The glassman broke off, seemingly unwilling to make that excursion further down such a perturbing incident that he himself was finding hard to believe, yet was fearing the very idea of. He lost the medical air and continued with the broken cadence of someone who didn't know how exactly to say what he wanted to say but just went about saying it anyway. "He just began choking and… and… when they all turned to his direction he… he was already sprawled on the floor… It was like some unseen force had snuffed the life out of him… and… and he died just like that… with… with the same terrified expression as the others…"

"Shit," Mitsui muttered under his breath, his eyes zoning out into nothingness.

"Weird, if you'd ask me," Hanagata remarked with as much cool as was left for him to consume. "If it hadn't been for last night, I wouldn't have thought it possible myself."

Mitsui gritted his teeth in both restrained anger and suppressed fear. "Fucking shit."

###

From the moment he lodged his rear end to the chair, Kenji Fujima had remained oblivious to his companions' conversation and had instead kept his unfaltering focus on the extraordinarily alluring cover of his psychology textbook. Well, it was merely an assemblage of circles in different sizes and colors looped together to form an intricate and seemingly hypnotizing pattern upon a black background. Not exactly the kind of view a sane guy would spend this much time staring at, but it was the only way he could keep his mind stalled enough to preclude entrance of some disturbing sentiments.

The same ones that had kept him awake all night and were now threatening to occupy the greater part of his day… Of his still frazzled mind…

Of his very being.

But no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't succeed in pulling out this utterly straining and sanity draining task. And no matter how airtight he thought he had locked his ears to the world without, he just kept on catching scraps of the other guys' reverberating yammerings. Their seemingly endless discussion about a topic they didn't really know anything about-- 

Well, why wouldn't he when practically everyone in the class was already talking about this morning's bizarre, yet undeniably appalling incident.

There were, of course, some biles of skepticism thrown about, which were quite understandable for people with limited views of life's most offbeat phenomena.

"That's one big stupid hoax those kids are playing," one haughty guy who thought he knew any better said quite assertively.

"Yeah. People don't snuff out and die just like that!" another guy from the same cynical bunch piped up. He sighed and further added, "The things idiots do to get attention!"

Fujima had half the heart to stomp over to that dogmatic circle and tell them what he knew. But, of course, that would then mean he was ready to acknowledge the nagging and subtly alarming suspicion coiling around what little was left of his sensibilities.

And that was exactly what had been bothering him for the past few minutes. He had been having hints of it since last night, but it was only after he heard the manner of Yasuharu Yasuda's death that his mind began opening to the possibility he had been denying to himself all this while. His earlier conjecture about a serial killer got ruthlessly blasted to some unknown cosmic universe in his mind, being immediately replaced by the unearthly truth he had been trying hard to block off his head.

It wasn't much help, either, that he was getting snippets of the past he had also been attempting, though in vain, to wipe off his memory.

After all, how could he possibly deny a truth he had seen for himself _for the second time around_?

The sight in that alley last night--of Nobunaga Kiyota's corpse sprawled on the ground, painted distinctively upon his pale features was the terror that had cut off his breath.

And that of Soichiro Jin, sitting in a corner, laughing and crying at the same time. The expressions on his face were unspeakable. The words he was mumbling, indiscernible. He looked utterly cracked up, insane.

And the way he had looked at the sobbing Kyoko as though seeing the devil itself… He and Mitsui had to actually use all their remaining strength in restraining the cranked up guy from running away in a terrified hysteria while Hanagata went in search for help.

But these were all beside the point. What happened last night was just brushing the tip of a cryptic iceberg. It was nothing compared to what he had witnessed in the past… About a decade ago--

It was with this thought that he found himself helplessly falling into the pit of an unwanted retrospect. Back to the very first time his rationality was challenged and taunted by the abstruse mystery that was Kyoko Fujima… 

And it was with this as well that he suddenly remembered one utterly substantial thing about his sister that--in his mental stupor--had most _inconveniently_ slipped his mind.

"God, Hisashi," he muttered under his breath, his eyes wide with abrupt realization. "Your dog… I forgot…"

"Forgot what?" Mitsui's voice echoed with apprehension at the mere mention of his most beloved canine in such a manner that seemed to say something as equally bad as being squished by a ten-wheeler truck had happened to him.

"Kyoko," the brunet gasped out. "Kyoko's terrified of dogs!"

###

She could sense the kid's fear as though it was her own.

It was the same kind of clutching emotion that had often overwhelmed her when she was still a human being. An unsallied soul trapped in the carnal reserves of mundane existence, condemned and accursed by everyone and _everything_ around her-- 

__

Kyoko…

The kid kept on running while she kept on calling to her. _Kyoko-chan…_

She had almost succeeded in taking full control of the kid's corporal being. Of her ephemeral thought and sensibility. But, as with her earlier attempts, there had always been something--or someone, keeping this kid from wholly surrendering to her ethereal irruption.

And always did that something-or-someone triumph over her. Win over her overwhelmingly and intensely enough to challenge her to another fight… 

Of course, she accepted each challenge tirelessly and determinedly… Again and again she came back to claim what should rightfully be hers--

__

Let go…

But the kid kept on running, her earthly side kept on fighting.

__

Let go…

The kid had been unconscious even before she left the house. She was merely running on blind impulse. Her eyes were open, yet wading in a lifeless abyss. Her mind was dead and she had no idea where her legs were taking her in their desperate flight.

To this moment, the only thing that had kept that puerile form physically operative and mobile was… _HER_.

__

LET GO!

###

Kyoko could hardly remember what happened after she toppled over the coffee table and the last piercing burst of scream escaped her constricting throat. The next thing she knew she was standing in some strange, open place with the sun's parching rays licking at her skin. There was a painful throbbing at the back of her head and behind her was the hollow sound of rubber bouncing against asphalt.

Through squinting eyes she caught sight of a ghastly figure making its way toward her in a rather casual stride. She would've scurried off like a headless chicken as warning signals went off inside her head, but her body felt numb and heavy and her senses were slowly slipping off the pit of an overpowering syncope.

Before she completely succumbed to such deluging peace, she heard the specter's monotonous voice utter one curt yet distinctly profound word that was the last to linger in her memory of that morning's fateful encounter…

"Do'ahou."

###TBC###


	6. Chapter Five: Oniichan

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**Note: **Back from the grave! Sorry for the loooong delay! Erm… wait, hope y'all people are still here?

Yup! It's got a new title, though pretty much the same plot. I was thinking, since Sadako's turn was called "Ring" and there was actually a sequel to it called "Rasen Spiral" and a third installment titled "Loop", why not think of a title for my own fiction that relates to these things? Such as "Helix"… See, I wanna expand my story beyond what I know about the original. I am borrowing Sadako, but putting her in a whole new plot, a whole new story, yet pretty much the same kind of wickedness, hehehe… -

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**CHAPTER FIVE: ONII-CHAN**

He knew he had seen this girl before, but couldn't quite tell when and where. Or how. By some unexplained reason, there was something about her that was trying to vaguely remind him of something.

Something he had yet to attempt figuring out once he got bored enough with his life and was left with no other choice but to think of more pleasant things aside from basketball… And sleep.

Shedding off the pensive frown from his face and replacing it with the usual expressionless one, the reticent kitsune continued watching her chest heave up and down in steady breathing. Despite his reputation as an apathetic freak--the 'coldest' warm-blooded being on earth--he felt every possible sign of relief there was upon seeing this much improvement in his guest… Though, it may not show all that much exteriorly.

It had almost been an hour since he took her here and granted her all the comfort of his own bed without so much as a grumble. A most unlikely gesture, especially from someone like him, but he was left with no other option.

He had, after all, caused an inconvenience to this dilly-dallying do'ahou in pajamas. That's **blood-soiled **pajamas to be exact--which was rather curious. Suspicious, even, since he had already checked the kid from head to toe and found no possible source of the bright crimson stains. There was not a wound on her aside from the lump his basketball had so nimbly planted upon her head, which was not all that serious to begin with.

He would've liked to perform a more thorough assessment, just to make sure there absolutely was nothing to be apprehensive about. But seeing as he was the only other breathing being in the house and that there was an obvious difference in his and that creature's gender, he couldn't risk being branded a pervert for his good intentions.

Being Kaede Rukawa, Shohoku High's one and only Super Basketball Ace, he did have a reputation to protect and preserve.

And being a guy--though a rather aloof and snobbish one at that--he did know the need for him to give all due respect and consideration to a lady. Given that she never did anything to irritate him so much and thus provoke his rubbish-intolerant temperance to ignore her for good.

Not that he ever did give the slightest inkling of attention to any girl anyway.

As the most recent joke went, the great virginal Ice Prince had yet to find a girl who could efficiently meet up to his hypercritical expectations. Presumably, she should have a head that was the exactest replica of a basketball propped up on some shapely human body molded and made to live for the sole purpose of being his bride.

Yeah right.

He would've laughed it off if he had chosen to pay attention to it--and if he had actually allowed himself enough human empathy to demonstrate such a reaction, for that matter.

Or if he had gotten pissed instead, he would've even given anything just to get a kick off a certain hedgehog's sorry ass for instigating that witticism, and do something more or as equally rude to that redheaded do'ahou, as well, for stoking the fire.

But since he was Kaede Rukawa, the virginal Ice Prince, he could as easily brush off such crappy comments as though he had never once heard of them.

Or, at least, play like so in public.

Since he wouldn't be wasting his precious brain cells thinking about this now if he had really discarded it completely, right?

How he hated it when people prattled about him as though he was fated to be the last living virgin on earth! And they do it too in his presence, like they were assuming he was too dumb to realize he was being insulted.

Or, perhaps they were doing it purposefully to try and see if they're getting any better in their slurring skills. And since he was the numbest person around, it would be enough proof of their expertise if they could force some conceivable emotion into his poker face.

Assholes.

Pensive frown deftly finding its way back to his mien, the poker-faced Super Basketball Ace-slash-virginal Ice Prince wondered why he had let such draffy thoughts harbor his head for a couple of wasted minutes. Was he so out of his mind that he had actually allowed himself the distress of such a lowly topic as his apparent lack of stimulating acquaintances with the opposite sex? The very thought of it, to say the very least, was even affecting him!

A few more minutes of this would've made him into a sorry partisan of some Casanovan cult, seriously damaging his sorry brain cells thinking of ways to end his cursed girl-less life.

His peaceful life, actually.

Needless to say, he was totally, absolutely, downright extremely so out of it.

And good riddance, who wouldn't be, anyway?! He would gladly resort to any other thought there was at the moment just to divert his mind from the unjust cruelties of the world he got all the misfortune to be stuck in.

Pensive frown aggravating into a darker, much grimmer one, the 'poker face' now looked more anxious and distressed than contemplative. It was the rarest of all rare occasions to see a rather impassive guy sporting a disturbed look on his countenance and looking as perturbed as though seeing the devil himself vis-à-vis.

But it was as real as the parching heat of the sun's ray penetrating through the open window… As real as the quiescent existence of a vagrant urchin on his bed…

As real as… someone he knew dying in the same gym wherein he spent almost everyday honing up his already near-perfect craft.

As numbingly true as two Kainan players meeting simultaneous mishaps--one losing his sanity and the other losing his life--in the darkened alley he would pass by whenever he lost his way in his sleep and was left with no other choice but to take the longer route home.

It happened in places he could've been in at the wrong time…

At the littlest strike of fate in a slightly deflected angle, it could've been him.

He could've been dead. Everything could've ended for him as did with those three people…

But, actually that was beside the whole point.

What was really bothering him big time--aside, of course, from the inchoate realization of the vagarious whims of fate--was that he could've died a **virgin**!

Hell, he may have been inhumanely addicted to basketball, may have seemed colder than a mound of iceberg, may have looked stiffer than marble, and may have qualified for a slot among the stony faces in Mount Rushmore, but--and this was a very big BUT!--he was still a human being through and through.

He's got the complete parts, after all, went through the necessary hormonal changes, sporadically suffered the typical carnal needs… And though he may seem rather anti-social, he did crave for the warmth of security and human affection.

The stunned kitsune blinked, dull, blue eyes staring unseeingly into empty space. He shook his head roughly and cursed under his breath, feeling the apprehensions he was trying to escape from slowly engulfing his soul.

It sure felt like he couldn't bear anything anymore.

With all that had happened and was currently happening to him, try as he might to deny it, great Ice Prince Kaede Rukawa was beginning to realize and actually believe that he really did need some serious help.

His very idea of which was, of course, drowning the hassles and the rest of the world in the one thing he was and would ever be passionate about.

Without any further ado, he stood up, scooped the discarded orange ball beside the bed and silently padded out of the room.

All this while, the befuddled kitsune's earthbound senses remained oblivious to a spectral presence that had been fixedly watching the still form on the bed from one corner of that unsanctified chamber.

As soon as the door clicked close, the metallic grinding sound began reverberating through the room. The unworldly overture was followed almost immediately by two pairs of corporeal eyes snapping open to reveal gray irises gleaming with vengeful contempt…

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He had been watching that brisk, spirited form from afar, his revering heart filling up with utter amusement as the devilishly adept incarnate practically flew around the limited expanse of the imaginary court it had built for itself. He was so engrossed in just looking at the excellent basketball stunts unfolding in such rapid succession right before his very eyes that it actually took a whole couple of minutes for him to finally come to his senses and decide to make himself known.

"How's it going, Super Rookie?" the human hedgehog chirped cheerfully as he approached the familiar backyard where the callous younger guy was inexorably engaged in a serious basketball game with imaginary opponents.

His simple greeting, finding it easier to mingle with the late morning breeze, didn't even make it through the impervious icy façade. Instead, the imperturbable super rookie kept up with his excellent ball plays, pointedly ignoring everything and anything around him aside from the adversaries he had woven out of the wind, his basketball, and the non-existent hoop.

There were moments of great awe and wonderment during which the great basketball Tensai, Akira Sendoh, would actually forget that Kaede Rukawa was a human being. This was one of those moments.

At the amount of passion and intensity with which his kouhai was playing, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if his new pair of sleek Air Jordan shoes would eventually set fire on the ground he was stepping on.

The kid looked that determined… And so downright unaware of his presence.

It was enough of a compensation to see him wearing those shoes, though. That pair of _expensive_ shoes he had given him last week as a very, very, very late birthday present.

It had been the very first time he actually saw those dull cerulean eyes faintly brighten up with juvenile delight at seeing what could very well be the best gift the kid had ever received in his entire life.

But then, as sudden as the vaguely implied initial reaction, the 'poker face' took on a sour frown as the amusingly proud chap snorted and asked, "What am I gonna do with it?"

"What are you supposed to do with a pair of shoes, Kaede?" he had asked sardonically as a rather taunting smile sprawled itself evidently on his lips. "I don't suppose you eat them for lunch, do you?"

The kid's dry-as-a-desert humor didn't allow him any other reaction aside from the blankest stare and the flattest utterance of "Do'ahou" Sendoh had ever encountered in his entire perilous 'career' as a mentor and good friend to Kaede Rukawa. Spending time with this kid was the toughest ordeal he had ever had the misfortune to deal with, but it was also a blessing of sorts, nevertheless.

Though Kaede Rukawa may seem to be an unfeeling, ungrateful snob exteriorly, there definitely was much more to him than what readily met the eye. He may impart this "get-lost-or-I'll-bite-you" attitude to the public, but what's really behind that glacial façade was a lonely little kid craving for the warmth and affection of a _family_.

The aloof, foxy lad lost his parents at an early age and had since then been living with an aunt who would rather wear herself out working than take care of an orphaned nephew. The only reason she took the kid in was out of obligation to her deceased older sister. She gave him lodging, food, money, everything aside from the attention a growing young boy needed. And not one to force himself onto someone who didn't really want him, Rukawa had contented himself in living and depending on his own strength and intuition for survival. He took care of himself, of his own needs, comforted himself in his sorrow--until he eventually turned into the cold, extrinsically tough teenager he was right now.

At an early age, Rukawa had come to realize that he needed nobody to pull through life. That he could be the strongest and the best he could possibly be if he worked on his own. But, though tough as he may seem outside, the unwanted young kid that he was remained incarcerated in the very depths of his soul. Despite everything he had achieved and the number of denials he had been forcing himself to believe, there was still a part of Rukawa that remained desolate and **human** enough to keep him vaguely aching to be valued and loved.

Sendoh smiled widely to himself upon remembering the most recent one-on-one basketball game he had played in this same backyard. That time when the kid suddenly decided to open up to him and he, instantly losing his concentration, inadvertently surrendered the ball to the sly enemy and nearly went sprawling on the ground in all his befuddled disgrace.

If it were meant to be a distraction, he'd have to say it was a damn good one. What the younger guy had told him was pretty simple yet weird-sounding that he actually found it hard to regain focus for the next couple of seconds.

But he knew the guy would never risk tiring out his rarely used vocals just to create an aberration. Kaede Rukawa hardly ever talked, but when he did, he never lied. So when the kid said almost absently that he saw a fatherly figure in Coach Anzai and would rather die than disappoint his old man, Sendoh knew he just had to take his word for it.

"And how do you see the redheaded Sakuragi?" the Ryonan Ace, while crouching down for defense, had ventured to ask solely for the fun of it, since he did notice that Rukawa had been giving much attention to that guy than he had ever done on anybody else.

"A nuisance," was the curt reply. Then, after sinking in an easy shot into their imaginary hoop, he sighed rather loudly and added. "…Like an annoying younger brother that I feel I need to watch over."

Sendoh chuckled and followed the man of the house as the latter walked to the porch and sat there casually twirling the ball on his forefinger. The spiky-haired lad took a seat beside his brooding friend who was obviously luring him into an intimate talk. And since it was rare to see Rukawa willing to speak his mind, Sendoh had no intentions of passing this moment up for the world. Plus, he did have something he had wanted to ask the foxy young lad ever since they became this close.

"How do you see me, Kaede?" he had asked in a quiet voice, seemingly too afraid to hear a response.

Long silence ensued during which the younger guy kept on spinning his ball. And just when the older one was about to start wishing he had never asked that rather imposing question, Rukawa suddenly halted his stunt and sighed before asking back, "How do you see me, senpai?"

How did Sendoh see Rukawa? It was pretty easy for him to answer that question. "An annoying younger brother that I feel I need to watch over," he replied, quoting the kid's previous statement.

At this Rukawa stood up and nonchalantly headed for the double sliding door, "I made cakes and tea," was all he said before he disappeared into the hallway leading to the dining area.

Though the younger lad didn't say it then, Sendoh knew he got his answer. And from that moment to the present, he had done and given anything he could to show the kid how much of a pleasure and honor it was to take care of him. All this he did while he constantly and tirelessly yearned for the moment this proud, ungrateful snob would finally learn to call him "Onii-chan".

By then, he knew, he would be the happiest, most fulfilled big brother in the whole world. And hopefully, through this he would also be able to get over this age-long regret he had been harboring in his heart at not being able to give as much love and attention to his real younger sibling.

Yeah, that fine little angel who got lost even before he could brush a finger through her fragile skin. He never even got to look into her tiny, sparkling eyes squinting to see into his own. Never even able to damage a single brain cell thinking of an appropriate name for her.

Oh, he damaged a lot of his two-year-old brain cells then, all right. He damaged them all thinking how the hell his mother--his beloved mother--could have lost his little sister in some unknown corner of town, right after giving birth to her.

Misplaced… What a term to use for a baby girl, barely a day old! His little sister had been misplaced like a worthless, lifeless little toy, somewhere… In some secluded place his deranged mother couldn't even remember where herself.

Sendoh could only sigh at that unfortunate memory. That… infuriating piece of his past that had so suddenly barged into his random thoughts. He may have already forgiven his mother, but he had not yet overcome the sadness, the longing he felt over losing his chance to feel the warmth of holding that bundle of joy, his own kin and blood, tightly against himself.

Even after fifteen years, the wound he had sustained from that experience remained fresh... and aching. He had thought his girlfriend could fill in the emptiness he felt inside, but she only added more bane to his bitterness with her untimely death. While his best friend, Hiroaki Koshino, had mysteriously disappeared after they went back from their basketball training camp two days ago.

Now, the eternally smiling lonely guy had only one person left to turn to--the basketball deity setting an intensely passionate fire on the backyard… still pointedly ignoring his presence.

How could he expect this guy to call him "onii-chan" when the latter couldn't even sense his proximity right now?

What a pity, Kaede, was the wistful thought that suddenly came rushing through the slightly shaking head. But since he was done entertaining every single thought that came to mind, and through all these realized how much he valued that injuriously callous guy anyway, Sendoh resolutely began thinking of another way to assert his existence. He had never given up in the past when faced with the same situation, why would he do so now?

The despairing fine lad didn't really need to do anything much, though. Just standing like a complete brooding moron on the other side of the fence and letting an orange projectile hurtling through the air land with a fierce thud on his head proved to be effective enough.

"ITAI!" That exclamation of pain sure was loud enough to wake some living daylight into anyone's fogged up head--an emotionally comatosed kitsune was no exception, of course.

"S-Senpai?" the vaguely stunned kid mumbled, instantly rushing over to check on him.

"Nice shot," was all the smirking Sendoh was able to say as he passed the ball back to the faintly chuckling Kitsune. _Wait--What the hell????_ _Kaede Rukawa? Chuckling? _"Hey, what are you laughing at?" he demanded in a whiny voice while putting upon his face a pained and insulted look.

"You're such a do'ahou, **Onii-chan**!" Then, as though realizing the gravity of what he just said for the first time, the apparently ruffled and embarrassed kitsune grunted and turned his back on his gaping senior.

"Wh-What did you just call me, Kaede?" Sendoh's voice trembled with anticipation. Hey, hearing Rukawa chuckle alone was enough for his senses to handle, after all!

"Do'ahou," came the curt reply as the kid began dribbling his ball in commencement of another intense match.

Despite the throbbing pain in his head and the eviscerating desolation in his heart, the utterly overwhelmed Ryonan Hedgehog let a wide, satisfied smile stretch his lips. Who cared about the past, anyway, when he knew right then and there that he had just become the happiest, most fulfilled big brother in the whole wide world.

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"Onii-chan, do you hate me?" The little girl's voice was small and trembling as she looked up at the adorable blue eyes of the equally adorable young lad holding her steadfastly in his arms.

"Of course not!" the young brunet exclaimed in reply. "What makes you think I do?"

"Cousin Kayako told me so," little five-year-old Kyoko sobbed. "She told me I ain't your sister. That father found me in some garbage bin in Tokyo and took me home. That--"

"Sssh," eight-year-old Kenji shushed, laying his forefinger firmly upon his sister's lips. "Why would you believe her? She's an idiot, remember? She does nothing but hurt you, you shouldn't trust her." Before he could reap the fruit of his attempt at another lie, however, he was dazed by the sudden change in his little sister's expression.

Tear-glazed gray eyes flashed with faint virulence and resentment as they squinted dubiously at him. "You…" the little girl choked at her own words as her hands tightened around each of his arms. "You…" She closed her eyes firmly and almost as immediately began shaking convulsively, like a poor cub being assaulted by volts of an intangible chill.

"Kyoko!" As much as he wanted to wrap his arms around his sister, the utterly worried Kenji could hardly free himself from her injurious grip.

"Poor kid," Kyoko began to speak in an oddly strained voice. "How could someone leave such a delightful creature all alone in a grubby bin? Are we gonna take her in? What do you say, Kenji?"

The older Fujima stared on in stunned disbelief. Those were the exact words his parents had exchanged that night. The night his father came home, carrying a peacefully sleeping infant swathed in a garbage-soiled blanket. Kyoko was repeating everything in their parents' conversation as though she had heard it first hand!

But how could that be? She was barely a day old at that time. How could she… remember…?

"I don't mind," Kyoko kept on. "Baby-chan, daisuki!" He could almost picture himself hugging that innocent bundle, without as much as twitching at the foul smell of whatever rotten thing she had mercilessly been laid upon. "That's very nice, Kenji. Since you like her very much, why don't you think of a kawaii name for her--"

Kenji couldn't take it anymore. With one swift move, he pulled his arms off his sister's clutch and pulled her face close to his chest to muffle the rest of her verbatim repetition of that fateful night. A special night for him and his family… And the beginning of one callow soul's deceitful life.

He couldn't figure out how on earth she did it, but he was utterly sure Kyoko had by now a clear memory of her past. Of the truth behind herself… Or, at least, the part of it that Kenji knew.

His heart broke into tiny, despairing pieces as little Kyoko's bitter sobs bounced against his chest. He felt her hands grip at his shirt as she mumbled the word, "Liar," over and over. All this while, he tried to comfort her by holding her closer against himself and rubbing her back while shushing soothing words into her ear.

"Ssh, daijoubu," he said. "Kyoko-chan…"

There was suddenly a loud gasp and the anguished sobs abruptly ceased. The next thing Kenji knew, he was sitting with an aching butt on the ground, watching in paralyzed bewilderment as the apparently terrified Kyoko rushed off to who knew where. Without any second thoughts, he was abruptly on his feet and was chasing after her.

"Kyoko!" he called at the top of his lungs. "Come back!"

"Don't come after me!" she called back, not bothering to throw him a look. "Please don't!"

He noticed the odd, gagging tone in her voice, almost as though she was going through an unbearable distress. This being the case, how could he succumb to his sister's plea? Even if it meant being killed by whatever strange thing it was that was happening to her, Kenji could only care less. He had attached himself too much on her to ever let her go.

And so he kept his chase, racing against the afternoon breeze and the apprehension he felt upon losing his beloved sister. He kept his gaze on her, unwaveringly focused even as he nearly tripped a number of times on a stray twig or stepped on a discarded dog-poop. None of these mattered as long as he didn't lose sight of Kyoko.

He saw her clutch her stomach tightly before she turned into a secluded alley. And before he could think he had lost her for good, Kenji heard the most agonized, heart-shattering, bloodcurdling scream his ears ever had to suffer from. This was subsequently followed by the frenzic barking of a dog, which burst his fuel to the extreme, inhumanely quickening his already hasty pace.

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"KENJI FUJIMA!"

The startled freshman snapped his eyes open to that nerve-whacking call of fury. Seconds later he was adjusting his ears back to the real world, specifically to the set of roarish laughter immediately generated by the entire class. Even his friends, Toru and Hisashi were merely stifling their set of teasing heehaws.

"Mind telling as what you were dreaming about, Fujima-kun?" the middle-aged Psychology professor crossed her arms across her chest in a rather impatient gesture while giving him a threatening glare that could've easily made even a tongue-less person spill the beans.

"I…" Kenji struggled to think of the right words to say. "I… I'm sorry, Sensei."

"We're waiting, Fujima-kun," the teacher prodded on, pointedly discarding his attempt at pacifying her resentment with a stereotyped excuse. The laughter had by then subsided and he felt like every single pair of eyes in the room were gazing intently at him, waiting for him to recount his dream.

How the hell did this people know I was dreaming, anyway?, he wondered silently as he kept his eyes glued once again on the enticing cover of his textbook.

"C'mon, we wanna know how much more interesting this Kyoko is compared to me and my subject." There was a slight taunting note in Miss Minami's tone that got the whole class reacting almost like a law with their own set of jeering noises.

The illustriously blushing Kenji pulled his gaze up high enough to steal a glance at the sensei, standing behind her podium and looking seemingly pleased with herself.

"You were calling out her name," he heard Toru whisper beside him, while on the seat next to his friend's, there was only the faint, stifled laughter of Hisashi, who was peering at him from behind the bespectacled guy's shoulder.

"Uh… um, well…" Kenji could hardly get himself to breathe with his heart racing at Mach 2 speed, what more speak of the girl that had made him so disoriented as though it was the most common thing to do in the world?

Seeing as he didn't have enough strength or rationality or both to defend himself, Toru willingly came to his rescue. "She's Kenji's little sister, sensei. She… She's left all alone in the house and Kenji had been worrying all morning about her, so--"

"Since when did you become his spokesperson, Hanagata-kun?" Miss Minami cut in with a displeased frown that got the embarrassed fine lad biting his lip so hard it almost bled. The room had once again succumbed to complete silence, except for a few scattered sighs of relief coming from Kenji Fujima's fresh new enthusiasts.

"I refuse to speak about it, sensei," Kenji finally said in a firm voice, meeting his sensei's eyes straight on with a genuinely remorseful look. "I'm… I'm sorry."

"Well, I'm sorry to have to say this, Mr. Fujima, but as much as I don't want to ruin your first week here at the university, you're pushing my patience a little too far." Miss Minami gave a crooked smile before adding her final ultimatum, "I'm giving you detention after classes, unless you decide to change your mind."

But the still slightly zoned Kenji Fujima wasn't giving much attention to her anymore, and was instead silently recounting scene after scene of his foregoing dream in his mind… His dream of that foreboding day…

He heard the pathetic, extremely anguished whimpering of the dog, a second before he reached the alley Kyoko had disappeared into. Where undoubtedly the still very much mysterious and downright anomalous alteration had befallen her young, unsullied existence.

He found the dog, a big black mongrel, lying in a bloody heap on the ground, its head smashed to an unrecognizable mess of blood, bones and cerebrum. Right before it, just an inch away was the terribly trembling Kyoko, whose eyes all but bounced out in the amount of terror they reflected while staring at that gruesome sight. She was spluttered with droplets of blood from her face down to her sneakers, and her breath came in mere gasps.

Despite the benumbing horror flooding through his nerves, Kenji quickly got over himself and was beside his sister in an instant. And as soon as he wrapped his arms around her, convulsive sobs began racking her pallid frame.

"I--It was gonna attack me!" she exclaimed in a tremulous voice. "She--She killed the dog, Onii-chan!"

"Who is she?" Kenji asked, cuddling his beloved sister closer, as though protecting her from the aforementioned, yet imperceptible other presence. "Kyoko, who killed the dog?"

"She---She did," Kyoko's voice turned into a mere whisper, as though she could not herself believe what she was saying. "She---she was me!"

tbc


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